Deniz Demirer is a filmmaker based in New York City. Demirer’s work as a writer and director includes five feature films, Nocturnal Jake (2009), Not I (2010), American Mongrel (2014), Ezer Kenegdo (2016) and Chinaroom (2017), and he currently has two new features in development. He has written and directed over a dozen short films, including Simon’s Agony (2021), and Above the Sunset (2023). In addition to writing and directing, Deniz has worked both as an actor, and a cinematographer. He completed cinematography for Francis Maxwell’s Post No Bills (2022) which was admitted into competition at the Academy Qualifying Nashville Film Festival, among many other festivals. Deniz has garnered high praise and critical acclaim from legendary cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins for the extraordinary cinematography on the award-winning short film Forest Born (2016).
I was after tone and mood in these photographs. Generally I tried to do away with anything that looked too clean and staged. The “lived in” behind-the-scenes moments were interesting to me as we kept shooting with the models. Something surreal and unsettling lingers beyond the edge of each frame. This is the sequence that emerged and this is what I’d like to build upon.