Wong Michael

Born in 1970 in the suburbs of Sydney, to a Singaporean father of Chinese origin and a mother of Bulgarian blood who was raised in Brno, of former Czechoslovakia; He is a man brought up sandwiched between two cultures in a land that is both ancient and new, and has spent his adult life discovering his identity by watching how other people and cultures live theirs. An autodidactic, Michael Wong found his way into directing first by observing. As a 13 year old teenager Michael saved for his first SLR camera to photograph the birds that would visit his backyard, which would eventually develop into a dream of becoming a nature photographer. His first commission as a director saw him interview scores of taxi drivers throughout five nations in Asia for MTV. Recording over 60 hours of material with a two man crew he sculpted a campaign that went on to win Gold Promax Broadcast awards in 1997 for best direction and campaign. Interestingly enough he managed to garner hilarious and poignant candid responses from the driver’s in their mother tongue that defined the way he would work for the years to come. Spending the next 4 years based from Singapore he direct many more award winning campaigns for Discovery Channel and MTV, plus global advertisers culminating in his exit from Singapore as the Best Director at the annual CAA Awards of 1999. In his last year in Singapore, Michael formed his own company, Human TV with Chris Humphrey, a former writer for BBC Radio Times and Rough Guide. They specialised in real stories told by real people shooting extensively across the region from India to China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Nepal; as a two man crew. With Michael shooting and directing and Chris producing and recording sound through video, they managed to create a style that captured incredible interviews on minimal stock. Collaborating with Discovery Channel they produced award winning work for; “Asian Icons” and “Eat, Drink, Live”, which again highlighted Michael’s strength in eliciting engaging stories told by the local characters about their own culture, icons, food and habits. The approach to the content powerfully compared and celebrated the similarities and differences between the diverse peoples and cultures. In 2000-2006, Michael consolidated his unique style n the advertising world, finally leaving Australia after winning Gold and Silver for direction, Gold for cinematography and silver for editing in the highly acclaimed AWARD show of 2006. In 2006 he won Best International Director at the SHARK Awards in Ireland for a mocumentary about a truck driver that discovered the meaning of his life through wearing swimming briefs all day and night, and Best Director and Best Campaign in 2008 at the Dutch Advertising Awards for a road film style music video and hybrid ad campaign for the WE brand. Michael has recently formed a new production company in the U.S. and Czech republic with the ex executive producer of Bistro films , Petra Ondrejkova, called L’Automat. AWARDS D&AD in Book Credit – MTV Budgie Smuggler 2006 The Midsummer awards - MTV Budgie Smuggler 2007- Best international Director The Midsummer awards - MTV Budgie Smuggler 2007- Best Foreigner film The Kodak gongs- MTV Budgie Smuggler 2007-silver Media & Entertainment Shark Awards- MTV Budgie Smuggler 2007-Bronze for Media & Entertainment Promax North America- Gold for direction

Born in 1970 in the suburbs of Sydney, to a Singaporean father of Chinese origin and a mother of Bulgarian blood who was raised in Brno, of former Czechoslovakia; He is a man brought up sandwiched between two cultures in a land that is both ancient and new, and has spent his adult life discovering his identity by watching how other people and cultures live theirs. An autodidactic, Michael Wong found his way into directing first by observing. As a 13 year old teenager Michael saved for his first SLR camera to photograph the birds that would visit his backyard, which would eventually develop into a dream of becoming a nature photographer. His first commission as a director saw him interview scores of taxi drivers throughout five nations in Asia for MTV. Recording over 60 hours of material with a two man crew he sculpted a campaign that went on to win Gold Promax Broadcast awards in 1997 for best direction and campaign. Interestingly enough he managed to garner hilarious and poignant candid responses from the driver’s in their mother tongue that defined the way he would work for the years to come. Spending the next 4 years based from Singapore he direct many more award winning campaigns for Discovery Channel and MTV, plus global advertisers culminating in his exit from Singapore as the Best Director at the annual CAA Awards of 1999. In his last year in Singapore, Michael formed his own company, Human TV with Chris Humphrey, a former writer for BBC Radio Times and Rough Guide. They specialised in real stories told by real people shooting extensively across the region from India to China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Nepal; as a two man crew. With Michael shooting and directing and Chris producing and recording sound through video, they managed to create a style that captured incredible interviews on minimal stock. Collaborating with Discovery Channel they produced award winning work for; “Asian Icons” and “Eat, Drink, Live”, which again highlighted Michael’s strength in eliciting engaging stories told by the local characters about their own culture, icons, food and habits. The approach to the content powerfully compared and celebrated the similarities and differences between the diverse peoples and cultures. In 2000-2006, Michael consolidated his unique style n the advertising world, finally leaving Australia after winning Gold and Silver for direction, Gold for cinematography and silver for editing in the highly acclaimed AWARD show of 2006. In 2006 he won Best International Director at the SHARK Awards in Ireland for a mocumentary about a truck driver that discovered the meaning of his life through wearing swimming briefs all day and night, and Best Director and Best Campaign in 2008 at the Dutch Advertising Awards for a road film style music video and hybrid ad campaign for the WE brand. Michael has recently formed a new production company in the U.S. and Czech republic with the ex executive producer of Bistro films , Petra Ondrejkova, called L’Automat. AWARDS D&AD in Book Credit – MTV Budgie Smuggler 2006 The Midsummer awards - MTV Budgie Smuggler 2007- Best international Director The Midsummer awards - MTV Budgie Smuggler 2007- Best Foreigner film The Kodak gongs- MTV Budgie Smuggler 2007-silver Media & Entertainment Shark Awards- MTV Budgie Smuggler 2007-Bronze for Media & Entertainment Promax North America- Gold for direction