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Mark Szalai is a talented cinematographer from Hungary. He earned his master’s degree in 2016 after studying Cinematography and Film/Video Production at the Budapest Metropolitan University of Applied Sciences. Despite his young age, Mark is an author of several short films - both school assignments and personal projects: his work typically features great lighting, dramatic camera movements and a bit of mystery. Mark spoke about his inspiration in an interview for his alma mater.

We all want to express ourselves. Our imagination, observations about the world, feelings, there is always something we would like to show to others, something we can't express with words - only with senses and sound. In a way, this is why is everyone making films.

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Mount Everest, the tallest and most famous mountain in the world attracts an increasing number of climbers, some of them being highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main routes, from Nepal and from Tibet - and while these routes don't pose a substantial technical climbing challenge, not everyone reaches the summit. Harsh weather conditions, altitude sickness and avalanche hazards are some of the main reasons that stop climbers.

Award-winning filmmaker and photographer Elia Saikaly has been on seven Everest expeditions, failed twice just before the top, survived two avalanches and an earthquake and stood on the top of the world twice, in 2010 and 2013. He began his adventure filmmaking career on the slopes of Mt. Everest, where he set out to honour the life of his fallen mentor:

Keep reading Everest - A Time Lapse Film - II

Casey Warren and Danielle Krieger, the duo behind the award winning Mindcastle studio, builds its films on powerful emotional storytelling. Passionate about photography and design, they both developed their cinematic eye and specific style, which can be seen in their work for Canon, Elle Magazine, Microsoft, The New York Rangers or Patrón, among others. Mindcastle has also received numerous awards, including the One Club’s Young Guns award, Cannes’ Young Director’s Award, One Screen Festival’s Emerging Writers Award, and a Sports Emmy.

Krieger and Warren are known for creating a “world” for their films where they build scenes and hand-create elements: they made more than 100 basketball team branded mixtapes for their film Mixtape for ESPN as well as did complex location scouting with detailed planning for their film The Journey.

Keep reading Hikari

Guillaume Juin is a French filmmaker, with a pretty incredible portfolio - he does everything rom commercials, events, drone photography, to motion design and narrative. But his most prominent videos are the ones from his travels. He's always on the road and on his Vimeo channel you can find videos from Argentina, Peru, Turkey and most recently Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. 

For our next video of the week, we've chosen the short film he created during his trip to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. On this trip Guillaume visited the most important natural sights in both countries. First on the list was the Ustyurt Plateau in Kazakhstan. This area of around 200,000 square kilometres is also called an "island", because of its edge cliffs of over 300 metres high. The colour of the cliffs ranges from white to pink, with no green in the sight.  

Keep reading Kazakhstan - Kyrgyzstan

A modern day bachelor shares his apartment with the memory of all his past lovers put together. In his fantasy they all share a harmonious loving relationship, synced into one being. The fantasy falls apart when he meets a real woman and has to choose between the safety of daydreaming and the challenges of real love.

The description of Second Hand Lovers by Oren Lavie promises an unusual story that will convince you that an artist's imagination can result in surprising pieces of art. This short film carries a unique style which is underlined with stunning visual imagery, splendid performances and a bit of melancholy.

Keep reading Second Hand Lovers

Slovakia is a small country - but its natural wonders are countless. From majestic mountains to about 2,000 caves, there is all you can imagine. While Slovak nature might not be known internationally and many of us living here haven't visited all the "must see" places, Slovak filmmaker Majo Chudý is dedicated to documenting some of the country's most beautiful landscapes. Majo's work is showcasing different parts of Slovakia and always featuring fascinating shots: it was difficult to choose just one film - but the process behind Few Moments 3 made it a clear choice:

For this video I travelled around Slovak national parks, in a one full year period, I walked more than 10,000 km and hiked more than 16,000 height meters on the hiking trails. I took pictures of more than 40,000 photographs. The video consists of approximately 16,000 shots.

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Ny-Alesund is a scientific place. It's a town made for science, designed for science; so there are no children around, there are no retired people around. Everybody is working in science or related to science.

Ny-Alesund is a research town on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard. If you are wondering where is Svalbard, just look at the map: you may be surprised to find out that the archipelago is located between continental Norway and the North Pole. This is a place where the population is only about 2,600 people while about 3,000 polar bears live here; where one can't be born or buried; and where the rhythm of life is very different from the rest of the world. The magic of Svalbard was already featured in one of our previous Video of the Week posts. Additionally, this remote part of the world is so fascinating that learning more about it inspired me to embark on my very own Arctic adventure.

While Longyearbyen is the main centre of the island, there are several other settlements scattered throughout Svalbard, one of them being Ny-Alesund, the world's northernmost functional civil settlement. Ny-Alesund has an all-year permanent population of 30 to 35 in the summer reaching the number of 120, and is host to sixteen permanent research stations run by agencies from ten countries. The "last town before the North Pole" is home to 40-50 buildings, one main street and, most importantly, the world's northernmost post office.

Keep reading Portraits at the Edge of the World: Ny-Alesund