George Friend - CE Rising Sun Films

MTM (Uni Syd) Grad Dip Educ Mngmt (UTS)
Grad Dip Def Stud (Deakin) FCIT psc MAICD AIMM JP

George was born in Sydney, Australia and educated at The Southport School (TSS) in Queensland. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1976 at the Army Officer Cadet School, Portsea, into the Royal Australian Corps of Transport (RACT). He served in the Regular Army for 20 years, reaching the rank of Major. He held a wide variety of Logistic, Instructional and Command appointments in this time. His career highlights included an exchange posting to the U.K., a summer season in Antarctica, producer and writer/director of the Army training video "Road To Antarctica", a mountain climbing expedition to Africa and producing on behalf of the Army the documentary "Kokoda - The Bloody Track" (KTB) for the 1992 50th Anniversary of this WWII campaign (See Credits below).

George Friend
CE RISING SUN FILMS

His personal and professional highlights have been walking the Kokoda Track, Papua New Guinea in 1988 (which led to the production of the documentary) and being elected Chairman of the NSW Section of the Chartered Institute of Transport in Australia (CITIA: the industry professional body) in 1989. George is a graduate of the Australian Army Command and Staff College (Queenscliff) and has a strong academic background. He completed a Masters' Degree from the Graduate School of Business, University of Sydney in 1994 and has deferred study for a Masters' in Total Quality Management (TQM) at the University of Wollongong. In his own time, and on behalf of the Army, he gained a wide range of commercial experiences working in the transport industry, consulting to Advertising and Travel Agencies and as Producer of "Kokoda - The Bloody Track". He is the founder and Director of his own film production company (Rising Sun Films Pty Ltd), Vice President of Australia Japan Society (AJS) Gold Coast, AIM Gold Coast Board member, Fellow of the CITIA and was the CITIA Honorary Director of Marketing 1994/96.

He is single and left the Regular Army in 1995 to pursue interests in the areas of film making, tourism, academia and property investment. His hobbies include music and golf.

Credits.

KTB was broadcast on the 7 Network during prime time on ANZAC Day 1992, and was sold and distributed to PAY-TV XYZ Channel, NZ, and the US. It was shown on American cable television (Discovery Channel) to over 40 million viewers and entered by the Network into the 1994 Cable-Ace Awards (cable TV Emmy Awards). The documentary was at one stage the top selling video in the CEL Video catalogue for Australia. It was also the subject of a Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs recommendations (Oct 93) to be translated into Japanese and distributed in Japan as part of an initiative to enhance Aust-Japan relations. In 1992 George was awarded a General Officer Commanding Commendation for his efforts on the documentary and was engaged by TCN 9 and the ABC (4 Corners), as an adviser on the "Australia Remembers" 1995 programs/series. In 1998 he received a credit for the high rating 4 Corners ANZAC Day Special on Kokoda.