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Krzysztof Kieślowski 

I first encountered Krzysztof Kieślowski’s work after the release of his 1993 film Blue, the first of his Three Colors Trilogy project. I remember watching the film and feeling a strong connection to it visually, emotionally, and tonally. There were many parts of it that connected to what I was doing and thinking at that time. I began to research his entire body of work and I’m still amazed at how many incredible films he created in such a short period of time. What defines Kieślowski’s work is his ability to showcase the internal side of his characters and their subjective points of view through visual nuances. I’m drawn to his techniques of light and sound and the way he plays with music in his films. Some of my favorites include Red, The Double Life of Veronique, and Dekalog, which has even received praise from Stanley Kubrick, who considers it a masterpiece.

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Helmut Newton

My fascination with photographer Helmut Newton didn’t come through a specific piece of his work, but rather through a realization that I had seen so many of his images throughout my life. I’ve always been a photographer by hobby, and I’ve especially enjoyed black and white photography. Newton excels within the black and white realm more than any photographer I can think of. I can say that in most of the projects I do, there is some reflection of Newton’s work. What’s really inspiring to me is his ability to photograph what was in his head and stage his characters and environments in a very surreal, narrative way. He’s also never worried about being censored.

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Segundo de Chomón

I actually discovered Segundo de Chomón pretty recently, while I was preparing to begin work on a stop-motion piece for 2K, The Gift of Mayhem, as well as on my upcoming stop-motion short film The Vandal. Chomón is a stop-motion Latino filmmaker of the early 1900s, during the time that film was invented. Often overshadowed by Georges Méliès, Chomón completed around 300 films in his life and is credited for the first animated horror film, House of Ghosts.”I got into his work because I was amazed at how talented he was and struck by how quickly he was able to create his films. Stop-motion is a very labor-intensive process and back then they didn’t have technology and tools we have today, but they were willing to take risks and make mistakes. Chomón drove the film industry at a very important time, creating the alignment between film and stop-motion and creating the world of motion pictures we have today.


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