Biography

Max Walker loved his sales career so much he packed his bags and travelled to Africa with no crew, no experience and virtually no money to make a documentary. After two bouts of malaria, a petrifying police pursuit and months without hot water (which was much tougher than the malaria!) his first production, An African Christmas, became reality.

This rough little film went on to be acquired for national broadcast on the Nine Network Australia, won Best Documentary (emerging) at the West Australian Screen Awards, screened as a finalist at the Washington DC Independent Film Festival and secured distribution around the world.

During this period Max also worked for aid organisation Catholic Mission Australia. In addition to his time in Africa Max covered stories in orphanages, leprosy camps and on disabled people projects on the Thai/Cambodian/Laos borders. He has presented his films to 1000’s of people across Australia raising awareness of poverty, injustice and inequality.

Following this brave, honourable and, of course, futile attempt to change the world Max returned to study and completed his post-graduate Film & TV studies in 2002 at the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. Desiree, his graduating production, was selected in DeNiro and Scorsese’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City; won Best Documentary at the Australian National Student Film Awards and was one of only 5 films from across the world to be nominated for Best Student Documentary at the International Documentary Assoc. (IDA) Awards in Hollywood.

Max was then selected for a Documentary Producer/Director Internship with the highly respected Australian Story program on ABC TV. He worked there on many projects and later returned to the Oz Story crew to direct/ co-produce “The Highway Man”, a story of a swagman that, at the time, became the show’s 2nd highest rating program and still remains one of their most successful.

A move into the challenging commercial TV world followed and with this Max was lucky enough to work on some very popular, successful and highly regarded shows. Jamie’s Kitchen Australia, Medical Emergency, and In Their Footsteps are all series Max has directed for, to name but a few. He’s always returned to the independent world, however, and it’s here that he directed projects such as Desperately Seeking Doctors (SBS/BBC) and Once Bitten (SBS/Maori TV) - the latter earning an AFI nomination for Best Doco Series. He shot and directed Salam Father without crew in war ravaged Iraq - then managed a team of 30+ people on My Kitchen Rules (another type of war zone!) in the same year.

He currently lives in Melbourne and still approaches every job the same way he did his first film in Africa: with the crazy notion that his stories may make a difference. Hopefully somebody might be enlightened, entertained, enriched and/or inspired by them. A mad dream perhaps - but stranger things, as they say, have happened.