Director's Works
Crumpler, Sub-3000 PHC
PHC is the creative vision of director / cinematographer John Angus Stewart. Authentic and unique characters lie at the heart of his brand of raw and visceral storytelling.
John has directed seven narrative short films which have screened at global film festivals including Clermont-Ferrand, Hamburg, Frame-Line and the BFI London Film Festival.
He has created music videos for artists like DJ Shadow, Amyl and the Sniffers and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. His promo for Amyl, ‘Hertz’, was nominated for a ‘Best Video’ ARIA Award in 2022.
John's feature documentary ‘Chunky Shrapnel’ followed King Gizzard on tour in Europe. It was ranked #1 in Letterboxd’s ‘Official 500 Greatest Movies of All Time’ list. It has since screened in dozens of cinemas across the USA, Europe and Australia.
His first commercial work came in 2023 for iconic Australian brand, Crumpler, with PHC acting as agency, production company, writer & director. The launch took him to Tokyo to unearth rarely seen subcultures. The huge success of the campaign led to a follow up in 2024 in Melbourne.
PHC is also a techno focused record label selling thousands of vinyl records over three releases so far.
John is currently in development on two narrative feature films.
“Coming at advertising from the outside, we can see differences with a naiveté that’s useful when developing ideas for brands. There is a sameness that lingers around advertising, especially surrounding casting and production. This is no fault of any specific department, but of decisions made over their heads. To us the ultimate way of bringing people closer to a brand is casting real people doing real stuff — instead of casting “real” looking actors doing “real” stuff in impossibly well lit kitchens. People are beyond that now, far too literate visually to buy anything that’s going for “naturalist”.
