LIFESTYLE 25 years of cinema behind the camera
Although in-demand cinematographer Neil Daza has lighted several notable films like Yamashita: The Tiger’s Treasure (2001), Dekada ’70 (2002), Feng Shui (2004), Emir (2010), Bwaya (2014), and top-rating television shows Maalaala Mo Kaya, Princess and I, and Be
Careful With My Heart, his first love is photojournalism. As a photojournalist, he has covered the post-Edsa revolution while President Corazon Aquino was in power in Malacañang, the Mendiola massacre, and the NPA rebels in Sagada, Mountain Province.
“I have been doing documentary photography ever since, on my own,” says the 56-year-old Gawad Urian awardee for Bwaya. “I always bring my camera and shoot. Through the years, I collected them and realized that as a cinematographer, I am on my 25th year!”
Recalling all his images, he came up with “Neil Daza 25 Times, Images from Behind the Camera,” a photo exhibit capturing 25 years of documenting theater, cinema, and television. More than 30 photographs will be displayed starting this Thursday (Aug. 3) at the Pasilyo Vicente Manansala, CCP Main Theater in time for the 13th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival 2017.
Tinkering with his second-hand Nikon camera became his obsession in high school. “I was around 12 years old when my uncle gave me an old SLR camera,” says the UST Fine Arts graduate.
Neil was one of the 20 Asian documentary photographers and filmmakers invited by the Gwangju Arts Council in South Korea to exhibit photographs and short films in a multimedia documentary exhibition, Conjunction Points in 2005. “My work is cinematography,” he says. “My photography is for my personal level. It’s therapeutic for me.”
With over 45 credited film and TV projects listed in IMDB, Neil has a confession: “Making movies, ang