Mark Vicente was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1965. With a father in show business and a mother in the Diplomatic Service, he rarely stayed in one place for very long. As a child he traveled the world and lived in such diverse places as Portugal, Brazil, Canada, and the US. When it came to his life’s passion, he took his cue from his Grandfather who owned an advertising agency. Taking his first photograph at age 4 he soon developed a keen eye for visual storytelling. This led to his ‘professional’ decision at age 14 that he wanted to make movies.
After mastering the Steadicam and working as a news-cameraman in Apartheid South Africa, he went on to shoot music videos and commercials. He got his first big break as Director of Photography on the musical, “SARAFINA ” starring Whoopi Goldberg. In 1992 he got the opportunity to go to Hollywood and shoot a picture for Disney entitled, “FATHERHOOD” starring Patrick Swayze. Excited and nervous, he found himself at the age of 26 as one of the youngest Cinematographers to shoot a big budget studio picture.
He never left the U.S. and over the next 10 years, amassed experience shooting another 14 feature films. As exciting as it was to visually interpret stories presented to him by other directors, he found that the subject matter was sorely lacking. Driven by the conviction that tales of greatness could be as exciting and financially successful as the subjects of rape, pillage, and plunder that is so beloved by the industry, he recently decided that he had to tell the stories that he cared deeply about.
In 2001, driven by creative desperation, he decided it was time to embrace his inevitable destiny as a director. He began directing and shooting commercials and documentaries that gave voice to his rebelliousness and politically incorrect sense of humor. The Rockumentary, “WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD”, produced by Linda Evans, takes to task organized religion and the lengths to which human beings will go in the name of God to abuse minorities and woman.
His recently released film, “What the Bleep do we Know,” has been receiving critical acclaim and was recently rated in Entertainment Weekly as one of the 10 biggest surprises of the year.
Courtesy of All American Speakers.