Face to Face
Emmy and DGA nominated Director Michael Rymer [American Horror Story | Hannibal | Battlestar Galactica | Angel Baby | Perfume] brings us his screen adaptation of 'Face to Face' (written by playwright David Williamson), as an ensemble piece about 10 very dissimilar people bound together by a complex pattern of relationships and shared histories.
Face to Face boasts an A-list cast of Australian actors including; Vince Colosimo [Underbelly | Spartacus], Sigrid Thornton, Luke Ford [The Mummy] and Matt Newton. It also heralds the first ever feature shot using Canon EOS digital stills cameras (HDSLR), to be commercially released in mainstream cinema. Lensed by award-winning cinematographer Dennys Ilic, the use of these small footprint cameras to shoot a major feature film was a bold step which allowed great flexibility in shooting style and technique as well as an incredible turnaround in principle photography of only 12 days!
Face to Face has to date won no less than 40 international awards and was touted by Filmmaker Michael Moore [Bowling for Columbine, Sicko], as a film that "All Americans Must See!"
Cinematography in Bollywood
This clip is the fully edited street-dance sequence for the Bollywood feature film Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi. This film was lensed in 2005 by Dennys Ilic and was one of the first HD-features to be shot in India. In fact within the first week of shooting the cast realised it was a format they considered suitable only for Saturday morning cartoon shows so they all walked off the set! It took two weeks of discussion and a 35mm blowup cinema test to convince the director that if the format was good enough for George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez, it should be good enough Indian cinema and would look nothing short of gorgeous. Eventually they all came back and the fantasy-family film starring Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Sanjay Dutt and Directed by Mahesh Manjrekar was completed.
Battlestar Galactica - The Last Days
2008 saw the filming of the highly anticipated finale of the groundbreaking tv series Battlestar Galactica. In the final weeks of the episode "Daybreak" photographer Dennys Ilic was allowed on the closed set to document the final and very poignant moments of the end of this incredible series and the parting of this tight family.
Armed with his DSLR and only a small Canon Ixus for video, Dennys captured thousands of images and many hours of footage. The end result is this video assembled in one evening on his laptop in Deep Cove, North Vancouver for the wrap party at Director Michael Rymers home. The Video is a tribute the wonderful, late Harvey Frand who served as Producer/Supervising Producer for 73 episodes. Without the kindness of Harvey and the warm welcoming nature of all the BSG cast and crew including the incredible Michael and Loretta Rymer and Edward James Olmos, this film would not exist.
In 2009 this video screened at Paramount Pictures main Theatre to an audience of cast, crew and Universal Pictures/NBC Executives for Harvey's Memorial. This was orchestrated by the awesome Bill Bowersock - Thank you Bill for allowing me to show my appreciation of Harvey at such a special time ~ Denny
Story Beyond the Still
Winner of Chapter 7 for Canon & Vimeo's The Story Beyond the Still contest. A HUGE THANK YOU to the cast and crew, and to everyone who supported this film by viewing, voting and sharing it with others!
Written & Directed by Tony Leech
Produced by Alison Ball
ADDITIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY ~ Dennys Ilic
RIDE ALONG WITH THE LAPD
Over recent years i've been lucky enough to enjoy the occasional Ride-Along with the LAPD when visiting the United States. [note: as a guest, not cuffed in the back seat!] It was a mind-blowing experience and i was profoundly effected by the respect and kindness with which these guys carry out their work. Heres video of my tour with the LAPD thanks to the awesome Marc Gibbens.
Special thanks to Anthony Healy
Pete - A Short Film
Some people just don't know how the world works.....Written and Directed by Tony Leech, Produced by Dino Antoniou and shot by Dennys Ilic this amusing, dysfunctional banter between two friends was filmed in one evening at the Toasted Bun in Glendale, Los Angeles.
Jamie Bamber on John Doe
In this short iPhone-video actor Jamie Bamber [Battlestar Galactica | Monday Mornings | Law & Order], amusingly describes to Director Kelly Dolen Jamie how friend and photographer Dennys Ilic brought this film to his attention. This was shot after the final scene was filmed durning a brief wrap drink on location in the streets of Melbourne at around 2am.
Michael Rymers Face to Face won over 40 major international festival awards and was touted by filmmaker Michael Moore as a movie that "all Americans must see!" Face to Face was the first ever commercially Cinema-released film shot on Canon HDSLR digital stills cameras.
Cinematographer Dennys Ilic was asked to speak on a panel at Sedona with fellow shooters Steve David and Ed George about their craft in the digital world.
This is Part 2 of that panel.