Christopher-Lee Dos Santos

Christopher-Lee dos Santos is a South African film director and screenwriter perhaps best known for the 2013 independent film Angel of the Skies.

Christopher-lee dos Santos
Dos Santos on the set of Last Broken Darkness
Born (1984-04-02) 2 April 1984
South Africa
OccupationFilm Director
Years active2009–present

Education and early work

Dos Santos graduated in Honours from the African Film and Drama Academy (AFDA) in South Africa in 2008, majoring in directing and screenwriting and minoring in psychology and sociology. During his school years, dos Santos wrote and directed over 10 short films, and during his third year of studies, completely independent of his film school, he wrote and co-directed a 50+ minute short feature, Brothers in Arms, which aired on MNET in 2006. He also had early work as a set decorator on Neil Blomkamp's unfinished Halo (series), and in working on visual effects for such short films as In a Place Without Love.[1]

Dos Santos was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1984.

Career

In 2007, for his graduation student film, Dos Santos wrote and directed At Thy Call, an award-winning short film about ethnic tension and military discipline in the South African Defence Force. The student film was produced for R40 000 ($2400) and screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008,[2][3] as well as screening at Cape Winelands Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival and Coal Stove Festival, where it won best Visual effects, Best Cinematography and best short film.[4] Fidel Namisi went on to write "The grand finale was at Thy Call, by Chris Dos Santos (DS Films). Having screened another film of Chris's at Off the Shelf last year ( the Coal Stove Award-winning Ortega Prospekt), At thy Call was a study in the development of the personal style of Chris as a filmmaker. If there is one word that could be used to describe Chris, it would have to be gutsy. Why else would a kid from AFDA make a historical war epic that explores racial tensions between Afrikaners and Englishmen during the border wars of the 1980s?[5] Dos Santos has also directed various music videos in South Africa, including "Guinness" by the Sunday Punchers[6] and "Turning in My Sleep" by Prime Circle.[7] He has directed two international feature films, namely Angel of the Skies and Last. Broken. Darkness.

Feature films

Dos Santos got his first short feature film (56 minutes) debut at the age of 22 when his independent film Brothers in Arms: 1978, was aired on the national broadcasting network M-Net in South Africa in 2006. Dos Santos wrote, co produced and directed the film with Dino Pappas,[8] a long time friend and collaborator. Dos Santos was still in film school at the time of its completion. The film went on to win awards at the Apollo film festival and KKNK (Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees) festival in Western Cape that same year.[9][10][11]

Angel of the Skies

In 2011, at the age of 26, dos Santos directed Angel of the Skies, his first full-length independent feature film, which he also wrote. Angel of the Skies follows the story of South African Air Force pilot, Earl Kirk, played by Nicholas van der Bijl, who volunteers to fly for the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He and his diverse commonwealth bomber crew find themselves behind enemy lines when their stricken aircraft crash lands in Nazi occupied Europe. Hunted down by SS soldiers, led by Stutze (David James, District 9), their attempt to return home is challenged, and a story emerges to reveal the heart of friendship in the face of death.[12]

The film was produced by Andrew MacDonald, and executive produced by Diony Kempen and dos Santos. The film was a joint co-production between Welela Studios and DS Films Entertainment, the latter being dos Santos' own production house. The cast included fellow AFDA film students Nic Van Der Bijl, Jason Glanville, Brad Backhouse, Andre Frauenstein, Ryan Dittman, Nic Rasenti and introduced Australian actress Lillie Claire and fellow Australian Adam Boys. dos Santos cast David James as the film's antagonist. The film was shot entirely in Gauteng, South Africa in 19 days, on Canon 7D HDSLR cameras with a budget of $30,000. The film took dos Santos four years to complete from when he first started writing in 2009 till completion in 2013. Due to the small budget, and being inspired by Robert Rodriguez' book, A Rebel Without a Crew, dos Santos taught himself 3d animation and visual effects during 2009 and 2010, thus enabling him to create the visual effects for the film himself.[12] Filming of Angel of the Skies took place in August 2011 and was shot on locations such as the South African Air Force Museum, Air Force Base Swartkop and Cullinan area.[13][14]

Release and reception

Angel of the Skies was picked up by Kaleidoscope Film Distribution in the United Kingdom in March 2013. The film was then shown at the Marché du Film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival with Kaleidoscope acting as the films worldwide sales agent. Together, the film was successful in securing distribution in 27 international territories, a first for dos Santos. These territories include United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Brazil, Italy, Korea, Japan, Germany, Australia and most of Europe. The film never secured a release in South Africa, dos Santos' home territory.

Since the release of Angel of the Skies in 2013, dos Santos has been praised for his ability to make his projects look more expensive than they cost to produce. In an interview for Tonight's magazine IOL, dos Santos was asked by having achieved so much with a low budget, what advice he'd give aspiring film-makers. His response was “Don’t give up. Stick to your guns. People will say you can’t do it, but don’t listen to them. In fact, people told me I wouldn’t do it. I stuck through it and I believed in it, it took me four years and it does pay off. The film got international distribution. So it’s great that it’s playing worldwide.”[15]

Angel of the Skies was released in Germany on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD (video on demand) on 19 November 2013 under the title "Wings of Honour"[16] as well as being released in the United Kingdom on similar platforms on 4 November 2013 under the title "Battle for the Skies". The film was released under its proper title, Angel of the Skies, in the USA on 31 December 2013 through distributor eOne[17] through DVD, Blu-ray, and various online platforms such as iTunes, Microsoft Store, and Netflix in Canada.

Last Broken Darkness

In March 2014, dos Santos began writing his 2nd feature film, titled Last Broken Darkness.[18] Principal photography started a year later on May 6, 2015, for a period of 27 shooting days. The film was shot entirely in Johannesburg South Africa, and stars Sean Cameron Michael, Brandon Auret, Brendan Murray and introduces newcomer Suraya Rose Santos.[19]

Awards

Last Broken Darkness first played to a public audience in February 2017 at the Boston Sci-Fi film festival, the oldest and longest running genre film festival of its kind, which screens over 100 genre films during the 10-day festival. The film was well received, winning two awards, namely best performance for Sean Cameron Michael and best screenplay for dos Santos.[20]

In late 2017, at the SASC (South African Society of Cinematographers) awards dinner, the very prestigious Visible Spectrum award for best cinematography in a feature film, the highest accolade given by the SASC, was awarded to cinematographer William Collinson, for his exemplary work on Last Broken Darkness.[21][22][20] Collinson worked extremely close with dos Santos during both pre production and production of the film, helping create the beautiful dystopian post apocalyptic world that dos Santos wanted his story to take place in.

Filmography
Film
Year Title Type
2006 Brothers in Arms – 1978 Short feature
2006 Ortega Prospekt Student short Film
2008 At Thy Call Student Short Film
2011 Angel of the Skies 1st feature film
2015 Last Broken Darkness 2nd feature film
Music videos
Year Band Song title Record label
2007 Changing Face Forgiveness Sting Music[23]
2010 Evolver One The World's Gone Crazy David Gresham Records
2010 Evolver One Stand David Gresham Records
2010 Evolver One Criminal David Gresham Records
2010 Prime Circle Turning in My Sleep EMI
2011 Saving Silence Somehow David Gresham Records
2011 Splinter Town Calling You Independent
2011 Juje My Need Black Diamond Group
2012 Colombia's Finest Gypsy Wand Independent
2012 Sunday Punchers Guinness Independent
2013 LOSTLY If Not You, Who? Discovery World Label
2013 Lady Zee – EDIT Can't Sing My Song
2014 The Duchess Right Beside Me Independent
2014 The Duchess Raising the Roof promo Independent
2014 LOSTLY No Direction Home Discovery World Label
2015 Marno Van der Merwe Huil Vir My Eikonik Records
2015 Marno Van der Merwe O my Liefde Eikonik Records

References
  1. "The Writing Studio". Archived from the original on 8 December 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  2. "SA short Film Plays at Cannes". Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  3. "Tonight Magazine Cannes 2008".
  4. "Coal Stove Awards". Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  5. "GFC". Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  6. "Mi Talent". Archived from the original on 27 January 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  7. "Life of a Young Filmmaker". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  8. Brothers in Arms: 1978, retrieved 3 September 2018
  9. "KKNK Festival Program 2008". Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  10. "Winelands Festival Program 2008". Archived from the original on 3 September 2018.
  11. "LinkedIn Profile".
  12. "Notes".
  13. "Focus on Country Living". Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  14. "Andrew MacDonald Films". Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  15. "IOL Interview".
  16. Movie trailer: Wings of Honour (video). 1 October 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2002.
  17. https://philspicks.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/eones-angel-of-the-skies-is-an-underrated-wwii-story/
  18. "Last Broken Darkness". Imdb. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  19. "2014, HERE WE GO". Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  20. Broken Darkness, retrieved 3 September 2018
  21. "William Collinson". IMDb. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  22. "About – William Collinson". williamcollinson.com. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  23. "Changing Face". www.vetseun.co.za. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
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