Meet four-time Oscar-winner film director Oliver Stone

Academy Award winning Oliver Stone has written and directed over 20 feature films, among them some of the most influential films of the last decades. Some have been at deep odds with conventional myth—films such as “Platoon” (1986), “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989), “JFK” (1991), “Natural Born Killers” (1994), and “Nixon” (1995). Stone’s films have often reached wide audiences and have had significant cultural impact. These include “Salvador” (1985), deeply critical of the U.S. Government’s involvement in Central America; “Wall Street” (1987), an exposé of America’s new capitalism; “World Trade Center” (2006), a true story of two 9/11 survivors; “The Doors” (1991), a poetic look at Jim Morrison’s ecstatic music; and “Snowden” (2016), the international story of a recent American whistleblower. His other films include “Any Given Sunday” (1999), an unconventional view of the world of American sports; “Alexander” (2004), an epic historical drama; “W.” (2008), a satirical view of former U.S. President George W. Bush; and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” (2010), a realistic sequel about the 2008 financial crash. In addition to “Natural Born Killers,” Stone has made a series of crime-related films—“U Turn” (1997) and “Savages” (2012), both dark in tone and humor. His documentaries include three on Fidel Castro—“Comandante” (2003), “Looking for Fidel” (2004), and “Castro in Winter” (2012); one on South America, “South of the Border” (2009), prominently featuring Hugo Chavez and six other Presidents in a continent undergoing huge social changes; and “Persona Non Grata” (2003) on Israel-Palestine relations. His later documentaries include “The Untold History of the United States” (Showtime, 2012), a monumental 12-hour interrogation of the conventional, triumphalist narrative of U.S. History; “The Putin Interviews” (Showtime, 2017), a four-part conversation with the Russian President; “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass” (2021), a re-examination of the assassination in the wake of his landmark 1991 film; and this year’s urgent “Nuclear Now” (2023). Stone was born September 15, 1946 in New York City. He served in the U.S. Army Infantry in Vietnam in 1967-68 and was decorated with the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning from Vietnam, he completed his undergraduate studies at NYU Film School in 1971.

Ross McCurrach is a Brussels based half Scot half Dutch European, that started his career in advertising before applying his thinking to entrepreneurship and helping corporates innovate by building bridges between innovative new practices and more incumbent structures. Fascinated by how creativity expresses itself through any medium and what triggers human emotion at any level, his interest lies in understanding how creatives use their creativity and medium to impact their environment.