We were lucky to catch up with Leo Sfeir recently and have shared our conversation below.
Leo, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
As a cinematographer keeping my creativity alive is truly important. Being able to work on different sets that are compete polar opposite is a great way to reset your creativity since your visuals have to match the different intentions of the scripts and every shoot brings a new set of complications and problems to solve. Problem solving is something that my brain thoroughly and gives me a boost in creativity. On top of that, I tend to surround myself with pretty creative people which is also a great creative stimulus, bouncing ideas back and worth and planning new projects.
I also very much appreciate going around in nature to take inspiration from it, and is available freely. I am also a big fan of animes and video games which I get inspired by for my movie making. Those for of media are usually more daring in their visuals and I am a big fan of trying new things for my work.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Leo Sfeir is a trans, non-binary cinematographer based in Los Angeles, California. Raised in a Lebanese household in the suburbs of Paris, Leo worked in the European film industry for over half a decade. Discovering a passion for lights, Leo decided to specialize in cinematography with a focus on the grip and electric departments. In 2017, after 6 years of work in Europe, Leo moved to Los Angeles to pursue an MFA in Cinematography at UCLA. Having built a reputation as a fearless cinematographer, resourceful key grip, and meticulous gaffer, Leo has been hired on countless indie and student projects on top of commercials, music videos and documentaries. Leo is also a skilled photographer. With a special affinity for portraying the raw aspects of human emotion, Leo paints with light and makes entire universes come to life through lenses. A lot of the films I’ve shot are still in the post production phase or haven’t started their festival tour yet but I’ve received a few best cinematography awards for one of the films I shot and directed, Abysse.
One of my main goals is to work on getting a more diverse industry by getting more representation of minorities both in front and behind the camera.
You can find here the link to my website and my Imdb:
https://www.sfeirleo.com
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7771826/
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My three most important skills would be my relentless will to not give up on my path, my human empathy for my crew and my visual talent as a cinematographer. My advice for people trying to begin their journey as a cinematographer would be first to never give up, it’s a very hard path that can be quick if you’re lucky but without luck it can take a lot of time to build a career.
Taking care of your crew is also something that I consider crucial, No movie is made without crew and they are humans too.
As for visual talent as a cinematographer, you should work on as many projects as possible and observe. Observe how people work, how they light, how they shoot but also observe life around you, how things look from a certain angles and how lights are interacting with the surroundings.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always looking for new folks to collaborate with. My whole job is based on human collaboration and it is one of my favorite thing about it. Right now, I especially would love to connect with more queer and trans folks to work on projects that are close to my heart. So if you are a director or a producer looking for a queer trans cinematographer please hit me up. I can be contacted through my instagram (https://www.instagram.com/pandauras.light/), my email ([email protected]) or my website (sfeirleo.com)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sfeirleo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pandauras.light/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-sfeir-72b286114
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7771826/
