Jan Sardi

This Italian-born, Australian-raised screenwriter and novelist won international acclaim for "Shine" (1996), but has been a rising writer Down Under since the early 1980s, recognized for his films and TV-movies. Still "Shine," the story of pianist David Helfgott's descent into mental illness and ultimate renaissance, put Jan Sardi on the list of top screenwriters internationally. His first produced screenplay, "Moving Out" (1983), a semi-autobiographical account of an Italian immigrant family coping with life in Australia. Directed by Michael Pattinson and starring Vince Colosimo, the film received mixed to positive reviews but was not released internationally. Sardi seemed to have found an alter ego in Colosimo who portrayed an outcast, rebellious teenager in Pattinson's "Street Hero" (1984), one of several films of that period that dealt with urban youth. Most local critics felt the script lacked subtlety and was too narrowly focused, but it (like "Moving Out") earned a nomination for Best Original Screenplay from both the Australian Film Institute and Australian Writers Guild (the Augie Award).