John DeFazio

John DeFazio is a Los Angeles based cinematographer, film-maker, and mixed-media artist. John holds two degrees from Carnegie Mellon University's Design and Art programs and a Masters from USC's Film Production Program. He is an active member of Film Independent, the International Cinematographer's Guild Local 600, and also Local 80. John has shot a multitude of award-winning and internationally recognized films, some of which have hit Sundance ("Crossing", "Roam") and the Cannes International Film Festival ("9:30"). DeFazio has shot for legendary Hollywood directors and producers such as Joe Dante ("Gremlins"), Paul Schrader ("American Gigalo" and screenwriter of "Taxi Driver" & "Raging Bull", as well as James Franco, Eli Roth and Roger Corman. DeFazio has served as the cinematographer on the controversial film "The Canyons" starring Lindsay Lohan and written by Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho, Less Than Zero). He has also shot Joe Dante's "Splatter" horror series for Netflix and Bloodheist for producer/writer James Franco. One of DeFazio's latest features stars Academy Award winning actors Richard Dreyfuss and Mira Sorvino. John's directorial work consistently explores the decay and rebirth of the human consciousness, the fragility of the human condition, in particular-the fluid boundaries of love & loss, and the contextualization of human existence. DeFazio has described his work as a mechanism for interfacing with the instinctive fear & love of the consciousness, and the pursuit to cope with distances in feeling and pain. Off the movie set DeFazio is an avid mixed-media and glitch artist, exploiting the aesthetics and procedure of art-making through data-moshing, compression artifacts, intra-frame video break-up, and physical degeneration. He uses non-traditional materials such as organically grown rust, grease, resin, and grunge remnants mixed with more traditional materials such as photographs, glass, steel, plaster, and found metal objects. DeFazio is a firm believer in the "process" of art as the ultimate message and does not display his work publicly. He often destroys his works upon completion, only retaining documentation of their completed forms. In his spare time, John is an avid weight-lifter and spaghetti sauce specialist-his most notable being a Bolognese ragu slightly modified from his Great Aunt Lilliana's secret recipie. In the much distant future, John plans to retire in paradise, most likely in Thailand, where the lighting is always perfect, the colors saturated, and the beers cold.