KODE Welcomes BAFTA Winning Filmmaker Stefan Hunt
Expanding their roster to dizzying new heights with stand-out, creative talent, KODE welcomes Australian-born Stefan Hunt for UK representation. A BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker and artist whose work is known for exploring life, death and other existential questions through whimsical surrealism, mixed media and genre-blending storytelling.
Stefan’s film career began by chance. After graduating high school in 2006, he travelled to all fifty states of the USA in an ice-cream truck with his best mate, documenting their travels. ‘Our intention was to create a film to share with our friends and family however the documentary ended up on television and in film festivals much to our surprise. That was the moment I realised I could pursue this passion as a career. The rest is history.’
Stefan has since gone on to collaborate with some of the biggest global brands, directing award-winning documentaries, philanthropic films, TVCs, music videos and shorts. Some of his accolades include winning a BAFTA, Webby, an ARIA and a Flickerfest Award, as well as receiving nominations at the UKVMAs, Raindance Film Festival and Vimeo: Best of Year Awards.
As well as directing campaigns for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, McDonalds, Virgin and Kathmandu, Stefan’s most notable film to date was born out of his time living in New York. In the BAFTA Award-winning arthouse documentary, ‘They Saw The Sun First’, interviews with older generations are brought to life through dance. “The words hit hard and left me asking the question - how do I get young people to listen to this wisdom?” and Stefan’s answer came in the form of his wife and choreographer, Vanessa.
The film called on, and developed, a number of the skills and understanding that Hunt has accumulated through his advertising work. The most prevalent of these is making a film resonate with its audience. “When I’m moved by something, I want to try my absolute best to capture that heart in the film I’m creating. That comes first, before the technical film stuff. The hope is that maybe someone out there will watch the end result and feel what I’m feeling too.” Stefan notes.
Stefan’s intent on always working with good people, resonates hugely with KODE’s own mantra. Stefan commented, “My dad always told me ‘You’re the average of your environment. Hang out with negative people and eventually they’ll bring you down. Hang out with like minded positive people and they’ll bring out the best in you.’.”
Upon signing Stefan, KODE’s executive producer Jack Goodwin said, “It is such a joy to be announcing that Stefan has joined KODE. I’ve had the pleasure of working with and getting to know him for just over a year, and in that time I’ve come to truly admire his ability to tell genre-blending stories, whilst maintaining the trust and enthusiasm of all of those he collaborates with. Stefan emits an enormous sense of humility, and always puts people first. There are no hierarchies on his sets, which is hugely inspiring for a director of his scale, and this energy radiates through the films he crafts. With correlating morals and ethics, I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Stefan at KODE.”
