Alister Grierson is an Australian film director and scriptwriter. Born in Canberra in 1969, he completed his secondary schooling at Canberra Grammar, graduated in Economics and Arts from ANU and studied Japanese in Tokyo. As an under 18 Australian Rules player, he represented the ACT in the Teal Cup but later switched codes to Rugby, playing 1st grade both for his school and the ANU. Whilst at university, his interest in film-making developed, and he later gained a Master of Arts in Directing at AFTRS. He has shot 15 short films winning three Tropfest awardsTropfest 2005 Winners - Urban Cinefile at www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=10090&s=Features and is the director of the feature film, Kokoda, which he co-wrote.

In 2009 Grierson was invited on to the Avatar set during shooting by James Cameron, and following the meeting was selected to direct a proposed 3D cave-diving drama, to be called Sanctum, using the Cameron-developed Fusion Camera System. IGN Movies September 9 2009 au.movies.ign.com/articles/102/1022975p1.html The script for Sanctum is inspired by the near-death experience of one of the writers, Andrew Wight, who was trapped in a cave collapse during a dive under the Nullarbor Plain. Shooting will commence toward the end of 2009 at Warner Roadshow Studios on the Queensland Gold Coast, and it is proposed to release the film before the end of 2010.The Australian, August 26 2009, www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25980783-601,00.html