Smith & Nasht

Smith & Nasht is an Australian media production company formed by technology entrepreneur Dick Smith and filmmaker Simon Nasht. The company was established in 2010 and has specialized in "global issue" films. As of 2015, topics have included energy, climate change, over-population and others. Smith&Nasht’s first film – I Can Change Your Mind About Climate – aired on the ABC in 2012 and was followed by a high‐rating episode of the TV discussion show, Q&A.

Nasht is a film producer and former journalist. Honors garnered by his work include Prix Jules Verne for international history film of the year in 2002, a Logie and Australian Writer’s Guild and Director’s Guild awards. In 2009, he received a shared Eureka Prize for Science Journalism. Nasht has written and directed some of the highest rated documentaries for the year for the ABC, including a film about the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Dick Smith’s Population Puzzle. The hour-long Q&A panel that followed the latter was the highest rating show of its kind on Australian television, according to the ABC. Nasht's films have raised the profile of several Australians, including The Man Who Made History, Frank Hurley, and Tasmanian Devil, which focused respectively on Frank Hurley and Errol Flynn, and Voyage of the Nautilus, which focused on Sir Hubert Wilkins about whom he also authored two books: The Last Explorer and No More Beyond.

In 2014, Nasht criticised Government cuts to documentary funding through Screen Australia stating:,"Documentary has been hit with a totally unjustified cut of more than $2 million while feature film remains a protected species mired in failure."

In March 2015 Nasht announced he would work with Stuart Menzies (the former head of ABC TV Content and Creative Development) and former Prime Minister John Howard on a two part series for ABC TV entitled Howard on Menzies: The Making of Modern Australia. Stuart Menzies brought the concept to Nasht and the pair then approached Howard with it. Nasht has said of the project:

“Howard is very hands on, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the era and the personalities and has an absolute passion for the art of politics. It is a true collaboration but ultimately the opinions being expressed are Mr Howard's.”

I can change your mind about climate was an ABC1 TV event designed to kick-start a national conversation about climate change. Representing two extremes of position on the topic and separated by a generation, the documentary featured conservative former Liberal party senator Nick Minchin and climate activist, founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and author, Anna Rose as competing protagonists. They shared a "journey of mutual discovery" to see if they could change each other’s mind about climate change, its causes and impacts. The one-hour long documentary was followed by a live studio audience discussion on the ABC TV program, Q&A. The production was directed by Max Bourke, produced by Kate Hodges and Simon Nasht and partnered with ABC TV, Screen Australia and Screen NSW.

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