directors & d.o.p.s Mar 2017

For the past 30 years, Avi Karpick has worked internationally as a director of photography and director, with shoots across both film and commercials in every corner of the world. Over the years, Avi has perfected his precision and pace, focusing on the unique niches that best suit his skills

Avi divides his work into four categories: direction and execution of table-top demos for food products; TV commercial director; director of photography; and underwater photographer and direction.

Avi surrounds himself with a world class team that maintains a flawless work environment. His production team includes a range of highly competent experts, from food stylists and mock-up artists to an advanced special effects units working across three studios in Israel and Budapest.

Avi and his team's philosophy: "in order to serve viewers food that truly awakens their taste buds, we must exemplify great taste ourselves."

Giovanni Bedeschi is the founder and owner of Bedeschi Film. After graduating from Istituto d’Arte Beato Angelico art school in Milan, in 1980 he started his career in advertising working for various agencies including Ata, Bates and McCann. In 1991 he became Associate Creative Director at Saatchi&Saatchi and, in the same year, directed his first commercial for Neutro Roberts, chosen by Paul Arden for the Cannes 'New Talent Showcase' that year.

In 1992 Giovanni started his career as a director at NPA before moving to New Partner and BBE Politecne. In 1996 he began working as a freelancer in Mexico, the Middle East, Russia and the US.

In 2002, Giovanni opened his own production company, Bedeschi Film. He has won many awards including the Targa d’Oro for a film for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, the Art Directors’ Club Key Award, and the prestigious Addy Award for a Corona Beer commercial. Bedeschi Film won several Cannes Lions awards in 2016.

Giovanni is a fellow lecturer at Milan Brera Academy of Art and is currently working on his first feature film 'Pane dal Cielo'. National and international clients include Pastificio Rana, Efko, Giorgio Armani, Rovagnati, Banca Intesa, Discovery Real Time and Almaverde Bio, to name just a few.

The personal and emotional view of customers on "their" Fleischgrossmarkt Hamburg form the leitmotif for the image film about the Hamburg Meat Market. There are surprising views of Europe's largest meat trade centre after Les Halles in Paris. Full of detail and filmed in an authentic DSLR style, Christoph Siegert gives the viewer an inner regard of this microcosm, which works 24 hours, 365 days a year in the heart of Hamburg.

Edelhof received two awards for the image film 'Edelhof1514' at the Deauville Green Awards 2015: The Gold Award as 'Best Film' in the category 'Agriculture and Sustainable Management', as well as the main prize 'EcoProd' for the most environmentally friendly production of the festival.

Christoph photographed and filmed for Postbank's unusual, attention-grabbing employee campaign. The films are now available online: featured in this Spotlight is the exclusive directors cut.

Hard-working conditions require reliable solutions. The Dräger X-plore® 8000 combines easy handling with intelligent electronics for maximum safety. This way, employees can fully concentrate on their immediate tasks.

Good service is given to everyone who pre-orders at Mahlberg and Meyer, regardless of whether the watch was bought from them. This film looks behind the scenes of the company's workshop.

Born in Milan, Dario Piana graduated from the famous Brera Art Academy. He drew comic books and storyboards until 1984, and has since gone on to shoot more than 650 commercials. He works all over the world with international talents such as Milena Canonero (three-times Oscar winning costume designer), Kim Basinger, Eliott Gould, Eddie Irvine, Michael Schumacher, Ziyi Zhang, Valentino Rossi, Ronaldo, George Clooney, and many others.

He has won many Italian and international advertising awards including two Gold, three Silver and four Bronze Lions at the International Advertising Film Festival Cannes.

He has done two movies: 'The Deaths of Ian Stone' (Lionsgate) and 'The Lost Boys 3' (Warner Bros.) as well as three short films. Dario also wrote and directed a nine-minute interactive 3D show with animated characters
for one of the biggest amusement parks in Europe.

One of Dario's commercials is exposed in the advertising section of the Louvre Museum, Paris.

"The secret of a good job is to avoid doing things that you know won't come right."

Henri Bargès was born in Marseille, France and spent his youth near the Swiss border. “I have never done anything in my life except directing movies," he says. At the end of the 80s, Henri became known for violent ads and was seen as a “trash punk” director. It was also during this time that he received several prestigious awards, including a Golden Lion at Cannes.

Henri has since branched out and developed a passion for special effects and action films, establishing himself as a multi-skilled commercial director. He has worked on several creative projects with major advertising firms from around the globe, and continues to create powerful and endlessly imaginative films, exploring the unexpected through his progressive, inventive and inspired work.

In 2016, Henri finally found the opportunity to express his ingenious creativity freely as director of the movie 'NUTS'. The film clearly mirrors the emotional energy, humour and originality of Henri’s vision and talent.

Daniel Infanger, based in Basel and Zürich, has been working in photography for over 20 years. Christian Brandes, based in Hamburg, has about ten years' experience in photography and post-production.

When they both started seperately working on their first film projects in 2014, they accidentally met at RED Studios in Berlin. A few weeks later they decided to team up for their first joint project. Stoked about each other's drive and energy, Mount Harbor Films was founded in 2015. Mainly focused on projects that combine photography and film, Mount Harbor is able to provide full service resolutions from concept and pre-production to post-production.

In 2016, Daniel and Christian managed projects for clients including Avec, Coop Pronto, Economie Suisse, Generali, Grand Hotel Titlis Palace Engelberg, Rado, SIG, Suva, Verband Schweizerischer Kantonalbanken and ZZ Wancor.

Visit Mount Harbor Films on Vimeo.

Working as a VFX artist during a summer job when he was in his teens, Omid Zarei started making films and fiddling with visuals early on. He went on to follow his passion, working in Paris as a director and cinematographer while finishing film school.

A natural storyteller, Omid has created imagery for a diverse range of projects, always approaching his work with a great curiosity while challenging himself to artistically express ideas and concepts through his imagery.

Visual communication is his mantra. Constantly reinventing himself, Omid is also experienced with virtual reality, creating one of the first workshops in Europe on VR films. As a DoP, Omid considers his mission to be touching the audience with subtle, yet well crafted details in every frame he creates.

"RFi Real New York production, like Katz’s. Robinson Films is a creative dynasty of directors, photographers; DPs, producers, DITs, PAs and awesome craft service people. Our top secret headquarters are in New York City (only FedEx can find us), but our talent empire is international!

RFI designs and produces media for network and cable broadcast as well as the nooks and crannies of the world-wide inter-web. We are an experienced, inspired, digital collective. Our stories get attention across all silos on all wavelengths, whether your device is battery operated, tethered, synced, wound up, or wireless.

Quiet please. We are rolling."