MARK VICENTE
   
I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1965. With a father in show business and a mother in the Diplomatic Service, I rarely stayed in one place for very long. As a child I traveled the world and lived in such diverse places as Portugal, Brazil, Canada, and the US. When it came to my lifes passion, I took my cue from my Grandfather who owned an advertising agency.  Taking my first photograph at age 4 I soon developed a keen eye for visual storytelling. This led to my professional decision at age 14 that I wanted to make movies.

Finding myself back in South Africa at the age of 18, I decided it was time to get this dream going. I enrolled in a Drama School, but much to my horror found myself having to dance, act, and make strange primal noises in voice
class. At the time, I stalwartly announced, "I just want to be a cinematographer!" (I was wearing tights at the time)  Little did I realize that all this diverse training would serve me well in the future, as a director.

After mastering the Steadicam and working as a news-cameraman in Apartheid South Africa, I went on to shoot music videos and commercials. I got my first big break as Director of Photography on the musical, "SARAFINA " starring Whoopi Goldberg.  In 1992 I got the opportunity to go to Hollywood and shoot a picture for Disney entitled, "FATHERHOOD" starring Patrick Swayze. Excited and nervous, I found himself at the age of 26 as one of the youngest Cinematographers to shoot a big budget studio picture.

I never left America and over the next 8 years, amassed experience shooting another 14 feature films. As exciting as it was to visually interpret stories presented to me by other directors, I found that the subject matter was sorely lacking. Driven by the conviction that tales of greatness could be as exciting and financially successful as the subjects of rape, pillage, and plunder that is so beloved by the industry, I recently decided that nobody else was telling the stories that I deeply cared about.

In 2000, driven by creative desperation, I decided it was time to embrace my inevitable destiny as a director. I began directing and shooting commercials and documentaries that gave voice to my rebelliousness and politically incorrect sense of humor. The Rockumentary, "WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD", produced by my friend Linda Evans,  takes to task organized religion and the lengths to which human beings will go in the name of God to abuse minorities and woman.

"What the Bleep do we Know" is my most recent project and it's success has been overwhelming. The audience which Hollywood never said existed seems to have come out in their droves in support of the film. WWW.WHATTHEBLEEP.COM

I am currently in development to direct, 'Bending Time," a spy thriller which includes themes of remote viewing, reincarnation and time travel. And of course a healthy dose of cutting edge science.