Glenn Fraser is an Australian filmmaker with a reputation for making gritty films in a variety of genres. Most of his work focuses on the more veiled activities of society, or of subcultures beyond the reading of polite society. Subject matter has included the human trafficking in the highly regarded[1] drama The Veiled, he examined developmental toxic masculinity in Boy, female sexual empowerment in Slipper and the rise of terrorism in the Middle East for Beautiful Voice. His filmmaking has seen him work extensively through the United Kingdom, Asia, Canada and the Middle East.
He attended Woollahra Public School and then Sydney Boys High School, in Moore Park from 1980 to 1985.[2] [3]
His films have received awards and his work has been exhibited in major international film festivals including Tropfest, the Sydney Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.[4]
In 2017, Fraser and the team at Transmedia Entertainment developed the world's first fully dramatised virtual reality comic book[5] in Moriarty: Endgame VR. The work was debuted at Wondercon 2017.
In 2018, Fraser and fellow filmmaker Karl Jenner developed the Face Off Screen Actors' Showcase.[6] Recognising a lack of opportunity for less experienced actors to see their work on the big screen, Fraser invited actors to submit their work to go under the eye of a panel of industry experts including casting director Greg Apps, actors Kate Fitzpatrick, Tony Bonner AM, Susan Prior and producers Enzo Tedeschi and Sally Browning.
In 2023, Fraser directed and co-produced the award-winning short feature Mother Tongue by screenwriter Amelia Foxton, a comedic horror film that blends '70s horror tropes with LGBTQIA+ advocacy.[7]
Advocacy
Fraser has been a long term advocate for human and animal rights, beginning with in-field activism in the late 1990s and transitioning to a more political and community-focused approach in recent years. He has worked for organisations Rotary International, Amnesty International and produced the inaugural Speak Up Youth Forum in Vancouver, Canada with founder Marie Tate.
In 2004, Fraser wrote and directed the film The Quiet Earth for charity campaigner Heather Mills in London and Vietnam. He worked with the composer and Aria Award-winning James Roche from the Australian pop band Bachelor Girl and the documentary screened at the Adopt A Minefield gala in October 2004 to aid in raising money for the organisation.
In 2022, Fraser was invited to produce and coordinate one of Australia’s premier environmental and plant-based festivals, Alive Festival on the New South Wales Central Coast. Fraser took over from founder Ricky Simoes who had established the event in 2015. It has since received considerable government support for its driving of community- and environmentally conscious activities and Fraser was recognised by Central Coast Council as an active contributor to the arts in the local region.[8]
Fraser has been the National Marketing Manager for Australia’s Animal Justice Party since 2023 and produced and directed its television campaign for the 2023 federal elections.
Gaming
In Australia in the 1990s, Fraser established himself as one of the pioneers of systemless RPGing (roleplaying) along with novelists Mark Barnes, Kyla Ward, screenwriter Chris Wheeler and others. Based on the collaborative play originated by Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970s, Fraser recognised that many would-be participants were discouraged by an excess of rules. Some of his most notable works such as This Splendid Isolation, The Sundowners (with David Arthur) and In the Name of the Father (with Adam Dalton) reached large audiences and featured in Australian conventions such as Nucon, MacquarieCon, Sydcon and Necronomicon. Several of these narratives – such as Therapy (with Chris Wheeler, Jai Gilchrist and Jodie Gero) and Shadows in Eden (with Chris Wheeler) - fostered a subgenre of interactive theatre and anticipated the deployment of international sensations like Sleep No More in which the deployment of props, lighting and additional actors expanded the footprint of the stories and characters. Fraser continued to develop some of these conceits as workshops for his later screenplays.