exclusive
Marble Bar Asset Management chairman Hilton Nathanson invests in family connections with Chasing Wonders

“There’s nothing more soul destroying than witnessing family relationships break down.” They’re not words you might expect from a man who built his formidable empire navigating the cut-throat world of asset management. They come from Hilton Nathanson — a name synonymous with success. By 2008 the Perth-born hedge fund manager had claimed second spot on Business Review Weekly’s list of the richest self-made young Australians. All before he hit 40. Now 51, Nathanson has had a renaissance. Or so it may appear. For the entrepreneur, success is not a goal, but an ever-evolving process. The reality is he has never stopped diversifying his portfolio of interests. And with it he has brought to fruition the labour of love that is his latest venture — Chasing Wonders. Filmed over five years, Chasing Wonders is the coming-of-age story of Savino the young son of Spanish migrant parents who — encouraged by his grandfather to live a life of hope and possibility — takes off across the desert in search of the magical Emu Plains. Amid the turmoil of shifting family dynamics and a fractious relationship with his tortured father, Savino struggles to identify his place and purpose in life under the tyranny of distance from his homeland and the unspoken trauma it represents. Chasing Wonders is Nathanson’s first foray into film production — a vastly different enterprise to asset management. But underlying both is the same drive, the same passion that saw him build his financial success. Nathanson has typically created distance between himself and the public eye, preferring to maintain his focus on family, friends and proteges while pursuing his many financial and philanthropic interests. But in this rare opportunity to speak in person there’s no trace of the bullishness you might expect in someone of his stature. His words instead resonate with a humility that hints of the quiet fortitude only afforded to those who take the road less travelled and tackle the obstacles that come with it. Nathanson’s journey from Carmel High School boy and University of Western Australia graduate to London-based self-made multi-millionaire and acclaimed film producer — and everything in between — has been far from a straight path. He arrived in London from Perth at just 22 years old with no job lined up and only — what he describes — a “pretty standard commerce degree” to show for himself. However, he knew he wanted to work in asset management, with his heart set on the world’s most prestigious investment bank with more than 150 years under its belt — Goldman Sachs. “I worked in Birmingham for a few months and had countless job interviews. But I kept reapplying to Goldman, writing to different partners there whose names I found on the website,” he says. “I was not anywhere near the best qualified for the role. But I was hungry for it — really determined. “Eventually one of them said yes.” Nathanson had realised his dream, which is why making the bold decision to leave the job he had worked so hard to get to go it alone may seem odd, but proved an important catalyst for the successes he enjoys today. “I think we all know when things feel out of kilter, when something needs to change, or we really want to be doing something different. Your head questions it, but your heart is telling you to do something about it,” he says. “I loved my time at Goldman, but I had this burning desire to take control of my own destiny and that is why I set up my own hedge fund.” After just a few years at Goldman Sachs, Nathanson left to complete a Master of Business Administration at London’s City University before founding UK-based alternative asset manager Marble Bar Asset Management in 2002 — a huge risk in an industry whose very nature is itself built on volatile foundations. Risk of failure, risk of financial loss, risk of reputation. But when it comes to a willingness to take risks, Nathanson has it in spades. And believes we should too. But — he stresses — the key to success amid risk rests on the proviso a few fundamentals are in place first. “Passion, listening to your heart and not giving up,” he says. “I’m a firm believer that if you have the passion and desire to make something happen and surround yourself with the right people, you can find a way. “The impediments are risk, what those around you think and the projection of their worries onto you. So explain to those people why it’s important to you, reassure them it’s going to be ok and then just go on that journey. Even if it means working multiple jobs or hours, just listen to your heart and make it happen.” Nathanson’s heart-led punt paid off and Marble Bar Asset Management — named after the hottest town in Australia — became one of Europe’s biggest hedge funds. It is this same passion that pushed him to produce Chasing Wonders. The root idea for the film can be traced back as far as Nathanson’s own childhood growing up in Australia. “I remember as a 10-year-old boy travelling with friends from Sydney’s North Shore to Mount Druitt and being fascinated by this station on the way with an intriguing name — Emu Plains — and wondering what was out there,” he says. But it wasn’t until decades later the seed of curiosity germinated. “I was on holiday in Spain when the idea for Chasing Wonders started. I had an idea, I put pen to paper, and I started on the road,” Nathanson says. Childhood imagination aside, it would be reasonable to draw parallels between Savino and Nathanson’s lives as young boys looking for answers beyond the horizon. However, having effectively plotted his own path, Nathanson long ago turned to helping others realise theirs. Besides being father to four children, he is a regular speaker and lecturer in schools and business schools mentoring people in their personal and career development. “I identify most with Savino’s grandfather. He’s showing Savino what’s possible in life, what you can discover and experience if you follow your passion,” he says. “He doesn’t want his grandson to be held back. “I read some research a few years ago on what people regret on their deathbed. It’s not the things they did in life, it’s the things they didn’t get around to doing. The things they left off the table. “Savino’s grandfather is wise enough to recognise this and to encourage Savino to live a life of excitement, adventure and genuine fulfilment.” The Chasing Wonders project was a steep learning curve for the first-time producer who found filmmaking more complicated than initially thought. “It’s a hard logistical challenge and you have to put together a specialised team — a screenplay writer, a cast, a director, co-producers and a technical crew and I was very lucky to work with some very experienced and talented people,” Nathanson says. “It was a massive journey for me, but it was an amazing one. “I’ve always loved and appreciated film as a creative medium. There’s no better way of telling a story. “But for me, the driver behind Chasing Wonders wasn’t to make a film. It was the story I wanted the film to tell. “The idea I wanted to explore in Chasing Wonders was this — How many people waste a good part of their lives blaming their parents for their issues, without ever acknowledging the challenges their parents have had to face in life themselves?” The complex and delicate interplay between child and parent are fraught waters to navigate, but waters whose depths Nathanson felt compelled to plumb. “For years I’ve both studied and given lectures about financial markets, and in that context about the things that affect someone’s ability to make good decisions,” he says. “Sometimes at the end of these lectures students would come to chat to me, but they would not want to talk about how markets work. They would want to know how I took the decision to follow the path I did, and all too often the conversation would then turn to the expectations their parents have of them.” In an effort to better understand, Nathanson did an Executive Masters in Consulting and Coaching for Change at the Institut Europeen d’Administration des Affaires in France — a course heavily focused on the psychodynamics around boardrooms and how decision making in financial markets is affected by individual trader’s beliefs. This also fed into a growing fascination about the “limiting beliefs” parents give their children — even inadvertently — and the impact this has not only on how they develop, but on how this can affect the parent-child relationship and how those relationships can be healed. “That was my driver for making Chasing Wonders — to explore these themes in more detail in the hope that people would see the film and reflect on their own lives and how they can make some of these positive changes,” Nathanson says. While he hasn’t completed the course himself, Nathanson cites the Hoffman Process — a seven-day personal development program offered at retreats across 15 countries — as an antidote for limiting beliefs and “gamechanger” based on feedback from friends and family who have. The Hoffman Institute played such a part in Chasing Wonders’ inspiration it prompted the team to “give something back”, with 20 per cent of the film’s proceeds going towards its bursary fund. “There’s nothing more soul destroying than witnessing family relationships break down,” Nathanson says. “Personalising our parents’ actions while not considering what lives they lived before us is often one of the greatest causes of misery some people will unfortunately take with them to their graves. “The Hoffman Institute’s motto that ‘everyone is guilty, but no one is to blame’ comes from the recognition that of course our parents have made mistakes that directly impacted us as children, but we would be wrong to blame them as we were not privy to the lives they led before we were ever born. “It teaches us to be open, to confide in our children, to trust them to understand us as parents and the lives we had before they were born. And it teaches us that stifling them, even if it comes from a place of love, creates animosity that can last years and those are years that you never get back. “Life happens to everyone, and it’s no-one’s fault. But if parents can take the plunge and confide in their children and create that space for more understanding, it can stop so much of the disconnection and miscommunication that can affect how you live your life. “I’ve never tried to shield my children from the realities of life and the challenges it brings. And I’ve always encouraged them to be true to themselves and for that to be the driver in the decisions they make.” Hianlo Films premiered Chasing Wonders at last year’s Adelaide Film Festival to critical acclaim, and was released in North America in June this year. The film has been widely lauded for its on-point casting, cinematic elegance and sublime scenery. But beyond this, Chasing Wonders’ most powerful appeal lies at its grassroots — its confronting dissection of the perpetually open wound of familial disconnection. Nathanson’s hope is to give a gift, saying: “If the film helps even one family to heal, it will have been worth it.” In an era of uncertainty with families split by the global pandemic, films like these — steeped in blood and soil — force us to reflect on what and, more importantly, who matters most. This uncertainty has delayed its public release in Australia, but Umbrella Entertainment recently announced it will screen Chasing Wonders in Australia and New Zealand towards the end of the year. But with his father Marshall’s health in question Nathanson — in conjunction with Carmel High School — managed to organise a private screening for friends and family at Luna late last month. Though unable to attend himself, Nathanson’s words rang clear in the introduction wherein he dedicated the film to his father “for all you’ve taught me and for encouraging me to follow my dreams”. Marshall attended the screening, but sadly passed away not long afterwards. Nathanson flew to Perth and was granted a one-hour temporary exemption from quarantine to attend the funeral in line with WA Health Department procedures. He observed social distancing before returning to the State facility to complete his 14-day quarantine period. As the closing credits rolled, the lights in Luna’s historic cinema rose to illuminate the many faces in the audience marked by the film’s lessons. And judging by the number of fathers who hugged their sons and the sons grateful for that closeness Nathanson achieved exactly what he set out to do — give the gift of connection.

Trailer for Chasing Wonders

exclusive
Marble Bar Asset Management chairman Hilton Nathanson invests in family connections with Chasing Wonders

Subscribe today.

Everyday Digital

Weekend Papers + Everyday Digital

Trailer for Chasing Wonders

The West Australian exclusiveMarble Bar Asset Management chairman Hilton Nathanson invests in family connections with Chasing Wonders

Subscribe today.

Everyday Digital

Weekend Papers + Everyday Digital

exclusive
Marble Bar Asset Management chairman Hilton Nathanson invests in family connections with Chasing Wonders