Summary Master of Illusion: John Seale hit the headlines earlier this year when he picked up the best cinematography Oscar for The English Patient. But he already had an impressive string of international box office hits to his name: Witness, Rainman, Dead Poets Society, Gorillas in the Mist etc etc. It's a long way from his first job in the ABC stationery department in a basement at Gore Hill in Sydney. Seale had to badger his way into the cinecamera department .. eventually working his way up to camera assistant. Now he calls the shots. And he chooses his own jobs. Right now he's taking a long break at home with his wife Louise, also a former ABC staffer, and that gave Australian Story a chance to spend time with him for this profile. Seale reveals his other great passion .. boats. He is an accomplished boat builder and he's currently working on his latest craft, a thirty five foot yacht called Illusion, which he's been working on for twenty years. He crafted some of the deck beams on location during his earlier years in film. Seale describes some struggles on the way to the top. In the early days he and Louise struggled to exist between films. At one stage they had three mortgages and the staple diet came from their chooks and a little vegetable garden in the back yard. PLUS: All You Need is Love: This story follows the preparations for a fire event at this year's Northern Rivers Folk Festival. The organiser of this event is Jyllie Jackson. Jyllie was an internationally successful fashion designer in the late 60's and early 70's. These days Jyllie is recovering from a recent 'burn out' from work, but has had the courage to organise this event.

• Documentary
• Biography