Peter Carstairs is an Australian film, television and commercials director.
Peter directed his first short film GATE, starring Joel Edgerton, in the year 2000. GATE was a short film success story, screening at most major festivals in Australia and overseas and winning awards at many including Best Comedy at the Melbourne Film Festival and being nominated for an AFI Award and a Film Critics’ Award for Best Australian Short Film. It was also released theatrically by Dendy Films alongside the short feature film, One Night The Moon.
He was then accepted into the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) where he made two more films AFTERWARDS and LITTLE BLUE. Upon graduation from AFTRS in 2002, Peter was awarded the school’s highest honours: Best Director, Best Drama Director, and Most Outstanding Documentary.
After leaving film school Peter co-wrote and directed his critically acclaimed debut feature film, SEPTEMBER, starring Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, The Kids are Alright, Jane Eyre) and Xavier Samuel (Fury, The Twilight Saga). SEPTEMBER was also a major festival success screening in Official Selection at both the Berlin International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Produced by John Polson, SEPTEMBER was released theatrically in Australia by Hopscotch Films in early 2008.
Peter has also directed series television with the high-concept television series NOWHERE BOYS for Matchbox Pictures/NBCU. For his work on NOWHERE BOYS, Peter has been nominated for a 2014 Australian Directors Guild (ADG) Award. NOWHERE BOYS also won a 2015 International Emmy Award for Best Children's Series, the 2014 AACTA Award for Best Children’s Television Series as well as the 2014 Logie Award for Best Children's Series.
As a commercials director, Peter has forged a successful career specialising in performance and comedy commercials and visual story telling. As a commercials director, he is represented in UK by Anonymous Content and in Australia & New Zealand by Exit.
His Doritos ULTRASOUND commercial won 'Commercial of the Year' at the 2016 Shots Awards in London. ULTRASOUND became a worldwide sensation when it was broadcast as part of the 2016 Super Bowl and emerged as the most popular, most engaging and most shared commercial of Super Bowl. It also won a Clio Award in New York and has now been seen by over 100 million people online.
For feature films and TV he is represented in the US by WME and Management360 and, in Australia, by HLA Management. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) and the Australian Writers Guild (AWG).