ANDREW FORBES
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
For over twenty years, Andrew has been exploring the relationship between images and storytelling as a cinematographer, artist, interactive designer, and more recently, an educator. Andrew's dramatic and documentary production experiences have taken him across Canada and around the world, fixing his eye on subjects as diverse as death-defying escapes in distant lands, the labyrinthine political arena of Turkish harems, documenting potentially lycanthropic adolescents, fantastical family adventures in northern Saskatchewan and international catfishing scandals, but he’s especially happy when he can tell stories from his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
His creative curiosity, teamed with an ever-expanding technical and theoretical knowledge base, has produced work for interactive media platforms, and includes experiments in stereographic imaging, interactive narrative films for touchscreen devices, 360° video presentations and transmedia collaborations which are exploring the boundaries of what’s possible with images and story.
He considers visual storytelling both a privilege and a responsibility and is fascinated by the power of images: his central focus is to develop unique visual interpretations for a story and Andrew enjoys experimenting with new narrative possibilities with every project. He holds a BFA from Ryerson University’s Image Arts film program, an MFA from OCAD University's Digital Futures program and is a proud associate member of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.
Andrew passionately believes in sharing skills and knowledge: in addition to his creative practice, he is actively involved with on-set training programs, professional development workshops, creative, historical and theoretical lectures and has been teaching workshops for over a decade. Some of the organizations he’s collaborated with include the National Screen Institute, Film Training Manitoba, the Winnipeg Film Groupand Freeze Frame Media Arts Centre. Currently, he’s teaching film production at the University of Winnipeg.
Past projects as cinematographer include I Propose we Never See Each Other Again After Tonight (dir. Sean Garrity); Bella Ciao (dir. Carolyn Combs); Indictment: the Crimes of Shelly Chartier (dirs. Lisa Jackson & Shane Belcourt); Escape or Die! (dirs. John Barnard & Jeff Newman); My Lupine Life (dir. Torin Stefanson); The Sultan’s Women (dir. David Rabinovich); Passionflower (dir. Shelagh Carter); Wapos Bay seasons III-V (dirs. Dennis Jackson, Melanie Jackson, Cam Lizotte, Trevor Cameron).