REEL DE ORO

Zak Powers was born in Seattle and raised by a female motorcycle gang in a farm in Canada. Later he returned to the US where he was educated in the art of excess. He worked many years as a carpenter, chef and fisherman in Wyoming and in Alaska. The camera, with its frames and its recording button has accompanied him throughout this entire journey and has always been his mechanism to understand life. He currently lives in New York and is part of the team of directors of Engage Collective.He has directed and taken pictures for international campaigns and editorial stories for clients such as Sony, The New York Times, Ford, McDonalds, Elle, TeNeues, Vogue, Newsweek and Time magazine. His most recent clients are Alaska tourism, The Macallan and H&M. Powers visual style is defined by an impeccable handling of color and the subtle composition and camera movements that render the pieces more dynamic.His first approach to cinema was as a teenager, before he used to live in farms without electricity and had other stimulus. The first film he ever saw was Cinema Paradiso by Giuseppe Tornatore and he assures it marked him forever. “When I saw the film I floated and became as light as air and then I vanished with the projector light. I lived inside the story for two hours and never recovered from the experience. Credits still confuse me and for me it is impossible to watch horror films”, he confessed. “When the screen is turned on I can’t see the difference between what is happening there and my own life. Also, I have had a bowl of popcorn every day since I was a child. My friends joke with me saying my bones are made of popcorn.” Powers prefers to work with clients who give him creative freedom. “My dream client is one with a lot of money and little desire to clean up the story. “Macallan from Scotland is a client with whom I have worked this way. Up to now we have made seven films without signing contracts, a conversation and a handshake seal the deal”, he comments. “I like to work with clients who come to me seeking art and take risks with me”.He is interested in telling stories, he doesn’t care about the client’s origin or the market he is making the pieces for. He has worked in different formats and genres without any problem, but directing pieces that are fun to make and watch is what he likes the most. One of the most ambitious projects that he has worked on was a shoot for H&M in the great sand sea of Libya and Egypt. His next project is the direction of some episodes of narrated nature reality for Discovery Network airing spring 2016. The series is centered on the operation of a remote Alaskan fishing lodge and the wilderness surrounding it. “It will be a classic BBC nature show with my on camera narration about the bears and whales and birdies, with a reality component provided by the fishing team”, says the director.Production Company: Engage Collective, USAContact: {Antonio Parada;antonio@engagecollective.com} T +1-201-675-1714{Watch video;http://www.produ.com/publicidad/videos/index.html?Noti=9297}