The Method of Michael Hili wins two Gold Awards at the Young Director Awards held in Cannes

Scrolling through the list of YDA award winners, one of the first things you notice is where they’re all from. Europe and the USA mostly, except for FINCH director Michael Hili – the only Australian on the list and the sole winner from the Southern Hemisphere.

Picking up Gold in two categories for his work on The Public Diagnosis for The Brain Cancer Centre, Hili’s production design background gave him the right tools to bring this creative concept from The Royals to life.

Hili’s apprenticeship in the industry began as a theatrical production designer, developing a ‘set-driven’ approach to direction that places him firmly in his own world of craft. From here, he refined his rhythm as a storyteller on music videos for artists like Flume and The Killers, building a fresh musical awareness into his point of view. This is relevant considering the two Gold at YDA were for Branded Content and Creative Use of Sound. Making music videos also gave him unique agency across creative, direction and production design, a diverse set of process-driven capabilities that make him a linchpin to have on set.

Hili’s latest chapter is being written in commercial work and what makes Hili unique is the transparency of his process. He has an idiosyncratic previz process that involves taking creatives on the journey by showing his workings, benchmarking clarity of execution. He rebels against the inauthentic, which he defines as a slight masquerading of care over craft. Remember in school when you were asked by the teacher to show your thinking or process? It seems Hili has never stopped doing this, driven not only to an exceptional outcome, but to invite creative collaborators into the magic of his method.

Watch more of Michael’s work here.

For enquiries, contact Corey Esse corey@finchcompany.com, Loren Bradley loren@finchcompany.com and Nick Simkins nicksimkins@finchcompany.com