KING OF PEKING
My first feature film. I had shot the stills for Sam’s previous film. He had since moved to L.A. where they worked on the script for King of Peking. When he sent out a kickstarter page I let him know I was happy to help out in whichever capacity needed. Sure enough a few weeks later he asked if I wanted to come shoot it. It was an incredibly creative and collaborative process - finding crafty DIY solutions for the limitations we encountered - much like our main characters were doing.
Sam ended up getting nominated at the Tribeca film festival with this little indie project. For me it ended up being a real break - getting me some festival exposure and a bunch of new great opportunities in the Chinese film landscape.
Director: Sam Voutas
Production Company: Seesaw Entertainment / Peking Pictures
Festivals and awards: Tribeca, BFI, Golden Horse, Best director LAAPFF, Best feature Washington West, Monte Carlo Comedy Film Festival, Stockholm IFF.
MASTER Z: THE IP MAN LEGACY
While we were enjoying the festival attention for King of Peking, I started prep on a very different type of adventure. My second feature film was a much bigger budget martial arts movie entirely shot on a back lot in south China. Legendary choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping brought together an impressive cast for a spectacle of wire action, big set pieces and a hell of a lot of fire. A slightly different vibe from the King of Peking experience.
Director: Yuen Woo-Ping
Cast: Max Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, Dave Bautista, Tony Jaah, Liu Yan, Chrissie Chau, Kevin Cheng
Production Company: Mandarin Motion Picture (HK)
Festivals: Closing film 2018 Busan International Film Festival. Nominated at Golden Horse award for Best Action Choreography
THE SERPENT
After leaving China I spent some time in Amsterdam - I needed a break from Beijing and was drawn to the rich cinema culture there. Through the powers of cosmic coincidence my name was put in the hat for a BBC/Netflix co-production to be filmed in Bangkok. I met up with Tom Shankland in London and immediately felt this project was special. We bonded over the rich reference material of 70’s cinema - You can find the reference reel we put together for the project on my blog.
A few weeks later we did some hair & Make-up tests with Tahar in London and again the chemestry and excitement was unique. In the meanwhile Francois Labarthe - the production designer on the show - had already started on locations and ideas in Thailand.
We ended up running into quite a bit of trouble - rainy season, all sorts of health issues with cast, and to top it off the early days of covid - but it all added to the madness and the chaos that made the show in the end.
Set in the 70’s and being a true story the project was a total cinematographers dream. Even more dreamlike was the fact that it ended up getting me a golden frog nomination at Camerimage.
Director: Tom Shankland (Episode 1-4)
Production Company: Mammoth Screen, BBC ONE, NETFLIX
Festivals and Awards: Camerimage Film Festival, 2 BAFTA nominations, 1 Golden Globe nomination
THE RESPONDER
Fien Troch had been one of my favorite Belgian directors for a long time when this opportunity came. Sometimes having seen someone’s work almost makes you feel like you know them, and with Fien that was exactly how it felt. For a few months in the midst of the corona era we filmed Martin Freeman as troubled cop cruising through the Liverpool nights.
It ended up being a tough shoot - but I am grateful for the experience. I recently shot a fun extra day on Fien’s new film “HOLLY”, which should be out later this year.
Director: Fien Troch (Episodes 3 & 4)
Production Companies: BBC, Dancing Ledge Productions
WATERMARK
A few years after seeing ‘Manufatcured Landscapes’ I was contacted by Noah Weinzweig to shoot some additional material for Edward Burtynsky’s new film. The assignment was a combination of Time Lapse photography and classic documentary work on one of the largest dam projects in China. The dam was being finished my task was to document the landscape getting flooded as the dam was closed. I mostly worked alone and enjoyed the focus and challenge of keeping more than half a dozen shots going for days.
Edward and Jennifer briefed me thoroughly of what they were after - one of the requests was to get some insects reacting to the rising water. One day I swam out to reach a camera in time before the water would take it. As I got there I spotted a mini island right next to the camera with 2 spiders on it, fighting for the last bit of dry land.
It was such a rewarding project and an honor to be able to contribute to this film.
Director: Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky
Producer: Noah Weinzweig
Festivals and Awards: TIFF, Canadian Screen awards Best Feature Length Documentary Award, DocAviv Fim Festival, Toronto Film Critics Association Awards Best canadian Film.
LUGER
During the years between Amsterdam and my time in Bangkok for The Serpent I got to know Freddie Waters. King of Peking screened at the BFI festival. Freddie saw it and reached out the day after to talk about his next short - Dim Sum. We have been working together regularly since. This was our second short together.
Freddie brought together two old friends of his for this small short film project; writer Freddie Syborn and actor Jack Whitehall. We shot it with very little means but a lot of love and support of a great crew - regular and new - a very generous rental company - Pixie! - and a great cast.
Director: Freddie Waters
Writter: Freddie Syborn
Producer: Gina Lyons
WAITING
One of the funnest shoots I have been on - these 6 short stories all star Ryan Sampson (who also wrote it all) and his good friend Harriet Webb, as they are stuck in some sort of place or situation. It was my first experiment with the new wave of large format camera’s that had just came out - which only added to the experience.
Director: Freddie Waters
Production company: Comedy Central
THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS
Based on John Wyndham’s novel this 7 part series tells the story of a bunch of alien parasitic beings that take on human form and try to take over a sleepy town in British suburbia. I worked on episodes 3, 4 and 5.
Director: Jennifer Perrot
Production Company: Sky Max, Route 24, Day-out Productions
Writter: David Farr
AS WE WALK
In this small indie music film three free jazz musicians walk the entire Belgian coastline carrying their instruments - accompanied by a camel! They played improv sets along the way. We just finalized the music film and it is about to go on a tour of Europe. You can check the dates here https://www.gabbro.be/agenda
For this film my dear friend Hanne De Backer transformed herself into a true filmmaker, applying her skills as a jazz musician to a very different medium. She spent well over a year editing, and I believe she found a way to edit as she would play music in the end. It has been a pleasure to see it evolve and slowly find its form over the months.
DIM SUM
My first shoot in London after meeting Freddie at the BFI Film Festival. It was great working with Freddie after the bigger projects in China. It was a mini budget shoot but the cast and crew were all great - we even had Indiana Jones’s Wu Han - David Yip - grace us with his presence - he plays the dad in the story.
We enjoyed a lot of creative freedom and it started a great creative collaboration between Freddie and me that is still going strong. We are currently talking about a feature film project that hopefully gets green lit later this year.
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Director: Freddie Waters
Production Company: Mad Cow Films