Louis Nowra

Writing

Louis Nowra

Born December 12, 1950 · Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (age 75)

Louis Nowra is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist.

Known For

K-19: The WidowmakerK-19: The Widowmaker · 2002
K-19: The Widowmaker
★ 6.62002
MovieHistoryThriller
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
Map of the Human HeartMap of the Human Heart · 1993
Map of the Human Heart
★ 6.21993
MovieAdventureDrama
In an Arctic village in 1931, British mapmaker Walter Russell selects 12-year-old Eskimo Avik as his guide. When the boy contracts tuberculosis, Walter flies him to a Montreal hospital, where Avik meets Albertine and is infatuated. A decade later, a grown Avik encounters Albertine again in London, where he's serving as a British combat pilot. Despite her relationship with Walter, she and Avik begin an affair.
Heaven's BurningHeaven's Burning · 1997
Heaven's Burning
★ 5.71997
MovieDramaAction
In Sydney, the newly married Midori is honeymooning with her husband, Yukio. She does not love him and fakes her own kidnapping to escape the marriage. Her lover is supposed to meet her, but fails to appear. She goes to a bank to get some cash, only to become a hostage in an unfolding robbery, until the getaway driver, Colin, saves her from his fellow robbers. They hit the road together, with the cops, her husband and the robbers in pursuit.
The MatchmakerThe Matchmaker · 1997
The Matchmaker
★ 6.11997
MovieComedyRomance
Marcy, a worker in the reelection campaign of bumbling Senator John McGlory, is sent to Ireland on a quest to find the Irish ancestry of Sen. McGlory, to help him win the Irish vote. But when Marcy arrives in the small village of Ballinagra, she finds herself in the middle of a matchmaking festival, and the local matchmaker is determined to pair her off with one of the local bachelors.
River QueenRiver Queen · 2005
River Queen
★ 5.72005
MovieAdventureWar
In 1860s New Zealand, a young Irish woman desperately trying to find her son finds herself caught on both sides of the lines during the wars between Māori tribes and the British colonial army.
Rain of the ChildrenRain of the Children · 2008
Rain of the Children
★ 6.52008
MovieDocumentaryDrama
In Rain of the Children, Ward further explores the subject of his earlier film, In Spring One Plants Alone when, as a young film student he travelled to the Ureweras and documented the lives of an elderly Māori woman (Puhi) and her schizophrenic son (Niki).
Black and WhiteBlack and White · 2002
Black and White
★ 6.22002
MovieDrama
Australia, 1958. When a nine year old white girl is found murdered, police are quick to arrest illiterate Aborigine, Max Stuart. Under interrogation Max admits to the killing. With a legal system compromised by intimidation tactics, the skills of his two gifted but naïve defense lawyers are put to the test.
The Everlasting Secret FamilyThe Everlasting Secret Family · 1988
The Everlasting Secret Family
★ 4.91988
MovieDrama
A beautiful, if ambitious and amoral, youth is tapped to become the lover of a powerful senator. The young man quickly realizes that he can hold this place, with all its perks, only as long as he is young. He has no other function than being young. With the help of an aged judge, the young man, referred to only as The Lover, contrives a plan to make a change in the way of the world, a plan that will take him years to realize. To succeed, he must manipulate, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the senator, his wife, the family chauffeur (who was, when young, a lover), and, by implication, the entire well-planned and controlling everlasting secret family.

Filmography

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First AustraliansFirst Australians · 2008
First Australians
2008
SeriesDocumentary
First Australians is an Australian historical documentary series produced by Blackfella Films over the course of six years, and first aired in October 2008. The documentary is part of a greater project that further consists of a hard-cover book, a community outreach program and a substantial website featuring over 200 mini-documentaries. The series chronicles the history of contemporary Australia, from the perspective of its first people, or Aborigines. The series is essentially a synthesis of well documented historical information. It relies heavily on archival documents and interpretations from historians and members of both the Indigenous and European community and leaders. The story begins in 1788 in Sydney, with the arrival of the First Fleet and ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo's legal challenge to the foundation of Australia. The series comprises seven episodes in which it explores what unfolded when the oldest living culture in the world was confronted by the British Empire. It explores the lives of particular individuals and uses their stories as a vehicle to explain the larger situations of the time. It explains violent aspects of European settlement of Australia, such as killings, battles, wars, as well as acts of friendship and decency between the early European settlers and Indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australian history has until recently been clouded by the "great Australian silence" where ignorance of the real history of Australia can be seen as a way for non-Indigenous to hide shame for their own history. In this respect it has been controversial in that many of these stories have not been portrayed on Australian television before and the Indigenous Australian perspective of European settlement is confrontational for many.

Writer