HEY!

MY NAME IS ALEXANDROS OUZAS (ALEXI FOR SHORT!) AND I HELP FILMMAKERS EXECUTE THEIR CREATIVE VISION.

I’m a film producer and distributor from Australia who has been making films since the age of 5 and I’ve been at it full-time for the past 5 years.

Since then, I have financed and produced 4 feature films, helped another four features close finance, produced multiple short films, distributed over 20 films in Aus/NZ and internationally, raised over $1m in private equity and $15m in production budgets, had films premiere at major festivals like Venice and Clermont-Ferrand, and had a lot of fun along the way.

I know you have a lot of choices of who to listen to when it comes to building your career as a filmmaker, so I put together this timeline for you to get a better idea of who I am and what I’m about. 

If you like what you see, I’d love to hear from you!

1994

Starting Young

I started my career early, producing home movies directed by my older brother, Kosta, with friends and family taking on multiple roles as the cast and crew. I have two older brothers (and thankfully one younger sister!), so I was constantly tagging along to help them bring their ideas to life.  

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2011

Don't look back

I produced my first short film, Don’t Look Back, in 2011 while studying for a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance Major) / Bachelor of Laws. I always knew I wanted to go into business but wasn’t sure which industry I wanted to enter. My brother (the one I made home movies with) started studying Film & TV so we were quick to team up with me acting as a Producer on his short films. Soon after, the penny dropped! I would use the skills I was learning at University and apply them to the film industry. 

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2012

Dreams vs Reality

After graduating in 2012, I needed to get a job fast and went into law hoping that the skills learnt at a law firm would be more so than from a  production company. I also thought I’d earn more money in law but that didn’t really end up the case! It was during this time that I produced my debut feature film, Plague, directed by Kosta, on a budget of $140,000 in 14 days during my summer vacation. I remember finishing up before midnight on Sunday and representing a client in court at 9am the following day. Plague was ultimately picked up for international sales and sold to Netflix in the US, it reached No.1 on the iTunes horror charts in Australia.

2015

Welcome to Exile

I founded Exile Entertainment in early 2015 with a vision to create a company that could independently finance, produce and distribute films. The mission of the company has always been to empower filmmakers to execute their creative vision. Wasting little time, I attended the Cannes Film Festival for the experience because Plague was being sold there by the international sales agent, but I somehow ended up co-acquiring the most controversial film at the festival: Gaspar Noe’s LOVE. The film hit the front page of major online publications in Australia.

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2016

Apprenticeship

Knowing I needed more experience in distribution, I worked with a local distributor for around 1.5 years acquiring critically acclaimed foreign titles for release in Australia, including Clash, Chemsex, Park, The Student amongst others. We also acquired a bunch of DVD titles when that was still a thing! This was a crucial apprenticeship period where I learnt the ins-and-outs of film distribution, developed a network and built relationships across the international sales part of industry.

2017

Rolling the dice

Now that I had an understanding of distribution, I could put together projections to more accurately predict what a film could make in the marketplace. It was this knowledge that was the backbone of the finance model behind my second film and my first collaboration with writer/director Jason Raftopoulos, West of Sunshine. Based on my projections, we made the film for $55k and ended up with a 12% ROI. West of Sunshine went on to be selected to compete in Official Selection (Orizzonti) at the 74th Venice Film Festival in 2017 AND we received major production funding from Screen Australia to help us complete the project. I had finally made it to a major festival and was about to generate fees from making a film for the first time! I negotiated sales to distributors in the USA & China, recouping the bulk of the production budget from those sales.

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2017

Green lit

In late 2017 an opportunity came up to tell the story of two ordinary Australians who risk their freedom to supply medicinal cannabis on the black market. I was passionate about bringing this story to life and very excited to be working with a young, talented filmmaker, Ned Donohoe. Importantly, it was also the first film I financed and produced combining private equity, distribution advances and tax rebates, helping me cut my teeth on financing a larger budget film.

2018

Creative Collaborations

Using my sales and distribution network, in early 2018 I negotiated the sale of Paul Ireland’s second feature film, Measure 4 Measure, to an international sales agent which triggered the finance required for the film to go ahead. This was my first experience working as a Producer to help another producer finance their film and was such a rewarding experience that I started to jump onto other projects as an EP and co-producer. It also gave my production company a much-needed cash boost!

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  • Skewwhiff - Producer (Short Film)
  • The Art of Incarceration - EP

2018

Aiming High

I met Erin & Luke (the producers) in late 2018 through a mutual friend as they were looking for a distributor for their new film, Paper Champions. I read the script for the film and liked it so much I decided to get on board as a Producer, given they were also looking for someone to help them with finance and distribution. Helping them put together their finance strategy, they raised over $400k in private equity and a budget of around $1.2m, while I was living in NYC and they were in Australia. This experience was the final catalyst for building Exile Accelerator.

2019

Giving Back

I launched Exile’s first online training program, Exile Accelerator, in November 2019 with the purpose of helping more filmmakers finance and produce their films. Since my very first feature film, I always thought about how I could best relay my experience to other filmmakers as I felt there was a lack of practical knowledge available to filmmakers, particularly when it came to finance and producing. As a sole Producer, there was also a real time constraint to the number of filmmakers I could work with. Creating an online program would allow me to work with filmmakers at a greater scale and across the whole world, helping me to fulfill Exile’s mission to empower filmmakers with the commercial ability to execute their creative vision.

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