Kerry Heysen is a Hollywood Film Producer and CEO of the Kino Films Groups of Companies in Australia, and Color and Movement in the USA, and March Forth Entertainment in Singapore.
Kerry and her husband Scott Hicks’ company developed “Shine” which was a commercial and critical success, nominated for 7 Academy Awards, 5 Goldens Globes and 9 BAFTAS. It won 62 awards including 9 Australian Film Institute Awards, including Best Film, and the Oscar for Best Actor for Geoffrey Rush. “Snow Falling on Cedars” was also an Academy nominated Film.
Kerry has worked with Warner Bros, Universal Studios, Castle Rock Entertainment, Fine Line Features, and Dreamworks.
Kerry is a member of the prestigious Producers Guild of America. Her feature films have starred actors of the calibre of Anthony Hopkins, John Gielgud, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ethan Hawke, Sam Shepherd, Zac Efron, Max Von Sydow, and Lyn Redgrave.
Kerry’s feature documentary “Glass: A Portrait of Philip In Twelve Parts” won the Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Feature Length Documentary, and was in consideration for the Academy Awards. “Highly Strung,” also a feature documentary, opened the Adelaide Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix worldwide.
Currently producing a documentary “The Musical Mind” which features musicians, including Ben Folds, Daniel Johns and David Helfgott, and a Concert Film featuring Ben Folds and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
Kerry has a development slate at the moment which includes two feature films “Only the Heart” and “As Dreams are Made.” Her films have grossed over half a billion dollars and brought millions of dollars to post facilities in South Australia.Among her awards, Kerry is a recipient of the inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award from Flinders University. In 2019 Kerry was awarded the Queen’s Birthday Honour as a Member of the Order of Australia. In 2020 she received the Premier’s Lifetime Achievement Award with her husband Scott Hicks. In 2022 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters honoris causa from Flinders University.
A passionate South Australian she says the only people who criticise South Australia are those who have never left here or those who have never been here.