Biography
John was born in Calcutta, India, to a Russian mother and an English father. His childhood, marked by extensive travel, unfolded amidst significant social upheavals in India, China, Japan, and Kenya. He received his formal education in England and pursued further studies at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, U.S.S.R., in 1969 during the Brezhnev era of the Cold War. There, he was inspired by filmmakers Grigory Kozintsev, Sergei Paradzhanov, and Andrei Tarkovsky. In 1971, he became the first student to enroll at Britain’s newly established National Film School, where he created the award-winning short drama The Reprieve, shot in 35mm Cinemascope, and the longer drama Matushka, also on 35mm. His chosen script mentor was Robert Bolt, known for Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. John’s early career involved extensive editing work. He has lived and worked in London, Los Angeles, New York, and Sydney. Many of his completed screenplays, both original and commissioned, are high-end romantic dramas set against grand historical backdrops: Return to Russia, adapted from William Gerhardie’s Penguin Classic Futility, set during the Russian Civil War; Burning Gold, a proposed sequel to Chariots of Fire, set during the Chinese Civil War; The Angel Maker, set during the Hungarian Civil War; Till the Sun Grows Cold, adapted from Maggie McCune’s biography about her daughter Emma McCune and the Sudan Civil War; Odysea, a futuristic survival story about an undersea farming community; and Starbjorn the Viking - 911 A.D., described as Braveheart meets Lord of the Rings. John Lind also works as a script editor and teaches narrative drama.
