Resumé

Mark Lawrie was born in Johannesburg and moved to Barcelona when he was twelve. Interested in theatre and photography from an early age, he first ventured into film as a student of photography, filming local 8mm cult classics in Berlin and Barcelona. He entered the industry as a music promo director in the late 80's. A highlight of this period for him was directing the "Rainbow Nation Concert" live in Johannesburg in 1991, with historic appearances by Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu. He also directed theatre productions including the highly successful and contentious “Billy Markham and the Devil” by Shell Silberstein. In the 90's, his ground-breaking and sometimes subversive music promo's helped launch the careers of many well-known South African musicians and earned him many awards along the way*.

Mark began directing commercials for television and cinema in 1993 with Gatehouse then Velocity Films and ultimately Collective Films. Since then, he has worked with agencies and clients around the world (Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dubai, France, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uganda, United Kingdom, and the USA) and achieved many international awards**. Recent campaigns for international brands include Aviva Insurance, Ford, Amstel, Etisalat, Lukoil, Coke, Pepsi and Smirnoff. In addition to his passion for the '30-second film', Mark has two feature films in development. He speaks English, Spanish and French.

Awards

*OKTV Octave Award - Best Music Video; OKTV Octave Award – Best Music Video; Octave Awards – Best Music Video; ; Emzimtoti Music Awards - Gold.

**London International Advertising Awards, Winner Campaign; Loerie Craft Award for Best Direction; New York Advertising Festival - Winner Campaign; Loerie Craft Award for Best Editing; London International Advertising Awards, 14 finalists, 1 Winner; Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, 3 x finalists; Loerie Craft Award – Direction; Loerie Awards – 3 Silver; Asia Pacific Awards – Gold – Cinema; Loerie Awards - 1 Gold 4 silver awards; Loerie Craft - Direction; Loerie Awards - 1 Gold and 7 silver Awards; Loerie Awards – Silver; Directors Circle – Best ad of the year; Creative Circle – Bronze – Best Ad; Vuka Awards - Best Animation.