Neil Daza is a Director, Cinematographer, Photographer and occasional Photojournalist.
The son of a political detainee during the Marcos dictatorship and growing up in a family of activists Neil was exposed to the harsh realities of the Philippines early in life. He narrates how growing up he would spend weekends visiting his father, a former military colonel in Fort Bonifacio and picking up his sibling from police stations during the dark days of the martial law period.
At 15 years old after watching Roman Polanski's Tenant -he was so enamored by the emotions elicited by the film in himself that he decided right there that he wanted to make movies. Starting his career as a stringer photojournalist for broadsheets in Manila he photographed some of the most iconic events of the last 30 years -including being right in the action during the Mendiola Massacre where he himself ended up carrying bodies of the victims to the hospitals.
He has worked on some of the most iconic Filipino films including Dekada '70, Etiquette for Mistresses, Yamashita the Tiger's Treasure, Last Full Show, Signal Rock and has worked on numerous TV series such as Maalala mo Kaya, Be Careful with my Heart, and has won and been nominated and for Gawad Urian awards for his work in Crocodile and Signal Rock among others. One thing that truly stands out with Neil is how well regarded he is among his peers for his craft but also for his compassion and concern for those he works with from the biggest celebrities to the lowly production assistant one thing distinct about him is that he cares that people are treated well no matter their station.
Neil believes that Cinematography should never be the focus of a film -it should always blend with the story and shouldn't distract the audience it is there to help tell the story and not be the story. Learnings from 30 years of creating stories for the Filipino.
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