KEEFA CHAN BIO 

Born in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) of Chinese descendants. Keefa's father was a printer, and his mother worked at the British Embassy. The family escaped into Saigon in 1978, when Vietnam invaded after the American misadventure. At a very young age, whilst playing in the fields, Keefa was drawn towards the beautiful sight of bright, sparkling, ethereal lights, emanating from a puddle of water. Reflected in the water was the vibrant blue sky with amazing white clouds. He reached out to touch this vision and sustained an electrical shock that put him in a coma for a month. Keefa was left with a lasting impression of the beauty and elusiveness of light, how it creates shape, form and atmosphere. During convalescent, his father took him to the cinema for the very first time. Captivated by the images on the cinema screen, the enormous scale and power of the characters made an unforgettable and lasting imprint on his early childhood memories.

 

The family immigrated to the UK as refugees, living in Kent in 1980. It was very difficult adjusting to the new language/culture and home. Keefa's father later found work in a printing company in South Wales and grew up living in the housing estate of Bettws. As a form of escape Keefa developed a fascination and appreciation for visual images, as friends of family donated comics such as 'Victor', 'Dan Dare' and HK martial art comics. During his teen years, a family friend gave Keefa a cheap Holga plastic camera, his fascination with photography grew. Books on photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson/Andre Kertesz were donated, Keefa would imagine the stories behind each of the images in the book. Other influences of the time include cinematographer "James Wong-Howe", especially 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter', other great Cinematographer influences are Jack Cardiff, Michael Chapman, Chris Menges, Jordan Cronenweth and modern cinematographer influences are, Anthony Dod Mantle, Emmanuel Lubezki, Darius Khondji, Christopher Doyle, Roger Deakins

 

Keefa's parents saw the interests he developed and ploughed their savings into buying him a s-vhs camcorder for his 16th birthday. He experimented making promising short films and music videos, winning some accolades. Keefa graduated from Bedfordshire University in 1997 and immediately found work in central London assisting on TV documentaries and later working as ENG/PSC/News cameraman, later becoming camera operator for commercials & music videos. Whilst living in Hackney, Keefa became involved with many short film projects, collaborating with other artists, photographers, painters, filmmakers and musicians in the thriving creative area of East London.

 

Throughout his 10 years in London, Keefa assisted high profile cinematographers, learning the craft first hand. He eventually moved back to South Wales in 2007 to established himself as 'Director of Photography'. Specialising in digital cinematography, he invested in the new Red One camera system in 2009 & was the first cameraman in Wales to pushed 4K to the masses.

 

Keefa now works as a young cinematographer, with clients throughout the UK and abroad, on many exciting projects and feature films. He continues to improve and develop the craft of cinematography and story telling, utilising cutting edge digital camera technology, such as the Red Helium 8K camera.