IT HAS been almost 30 years since Glendyn Ivin graduated from the University of Newcastle and embarked on a career as a film and television director that has taken him all over the world.
"I was here for four years and I'm still in contact with a lot of those people, I still have a huge respect and gratitude to my lecturers," Ivin said, walking around the city.
"I'm still someone who needs a kick up the butt sometimes to get to work and they made me see that every project is an opportunity to make something great and I feel like I've taken that into my career.
"You try and elevate whatever you're doing regardless of how big or small or budget, you make it great. I kind of learned that here, it was the beginning of that."
Ivin was one of 11 people honoured on Thursday at the University of Newcastle Alumni Awards. He received the Newton-John Alumni Medal.
"It's always nice to be recognised," Ivin said.
"The film industry is a place that almost makes an industry out of giving people awards but it's nice to be recognised outside of my immediate industry and particularly from a place like UON where I feel like my creative life began."
Awardees included Dr Nashwa Najib, who was the joint recipient of the Young Alumni Award, Dr Amandeep Hansra, who received the National Leadership Award and Dr Michael Exton, who received the International Leadership Award.
Tamworth-raised Ivin lived in a "falling down terrace full of cockroaches and chaos" on Beach Street Newcastle East while studying for his four-year Bachelor of Arts Graphic Design, which he completed in 1994.
"Going to university and being surrounded by other people that had an interest in art and design like I did at the time was a huge thing and really opened my eyes to the potential of what you could do with art and visual communication... studying design gave me a grounding in visual communication which feeds into my daily life as a film director time and time again.
"It's sort of the same thing in a way, it's just a really different medium."
Ivin moved to Melbourne, went to film school and joined production company Exit Films in 2000, directing award-winning commercials for clients including Toyota and QANTAS. His first short drama, 2003 release Cracker Bag - based on when he was 10 and living with his family in Kotara for six months - was recognised with a Palme d'Or for short film at the 56th Cannes Film Festival.
It was nominated for four Australian Film Institute Awards, winning Best Short Screenplay and Best Short Film.
Ivin directed two feature films, the Last Ride starring Hugo Weaving, and Penguin Bloom, starring Naomi Watts. Both earned an Australian Directors Guild Award nomination for Best Direction in a Feature Film. Penguin Bloom also garnered a 2021 AACTA Award nomination for Best Film and Best Direction in Film.
However he said his most creative work had been in television, including Puberty Blues, which he said had a "bit of Newcastle in that and the coming of age story that epitomises".
He is finishing seven-hour series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, starring Sigourney Weaver.
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