DEBORAH MAY
Producer, camera operator and editor specialising in dance, music and the performing arts.
Deborah has directed and produced large-scale multi-camera productions, documentaries and promotional films, working with some of the world’s leading artists and arts organisations, as well as producing a number of short, experimental, cutting-edge films with visual and performance artists. Over the past six years Deborah has worked extensively in the disability arts sector in London and in Perth, as a producer, mentor and collaborator.
Deborah studied Fine Art, in South Africa and at St Martin’s School of Art, London, and worked in the theatre, a museum, a university art school, the United Nations film department, an animation studio, a film production company, the BBC, and is currently a freelance producer, director and editor in Perth, WA
Recent work includes:
Maxine Doyle’s Sunset: Film producer, cinematographer, editor. An immersive site specific performance at the old Sunset Hospital on the bank of the Swan River, Perth. (STRUT Dance & Perth Festival)
Boorna Waanginy: The Trees Speak: Film producer, cinematographer, editor. (Perth Festival)
You Know We Belong Together: Dramaturg and video documentation. (Black Swan State Theatre Company/DADAA/Perth Festival)
Does It Matter? 5 short films by disabled artists: Clare Cunningham, Katherine Araniello, Toney Heaton, Simon Mckeown and Jez Colborne. Commissioned by 14|18 NOW to commemorate the centenary of World War One. Co-produced with Artsadmin. Screened at events, on the internet and broadcast on Channel 4.
Life in Progress: multi-camera recording of Sylvie Guillem’s final dance programme featuring works by Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and including Mats Ek’s touching and poignant Bye, which was made especially for Sylvie and performed as part of the 6000 miles away world tour.
See the Music, Hear the Dance: Director & editor. An evening of Thomas Ades’ music featuring Britten Sinfonia and including choreography by Wayne McGregor and Crystal Pite. (Crystal’s astonishing Polaris had 60 dancers and 65 musicians, in the pit, on stage and in the auditorium.)
Britten’s Canticles: 3 camera live recording with tenor Ian Bostridge and counter tenor Iestyn Davies, staged by Neil Bartlett & Paule Constable, and filmed at Snape Maltings for Aldeburgh Music’s Britten Centenary.
Circus Post: 15 short films on Contemporary Circus for BBC’s online portal The Space. Including Place des Anges, Phia Menard, Piccadilly Circus Circus and Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger. (BBC|Arts Council)
Push: multi-camera recording of Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant performance at Sadler’s Wells. Commissioned by Sadler’s Wells. Broadcast (Japan & Sweden) and DVD distribution.
Darwin Originals. a series of artists short films to celebrate Charles Darwin’s bicentenary and the 150th anniversary of On the origin of species and What on Earth, a second series of artists films on the future of species (looking at climate change, bankers, extinction and transformation). Co-produced with Artsadmin. Screened at events, on the internet and on Channel 4.
In the Spirit of Diaghilev a multi-camera live recording of 4 dance films by choreographers, Wayne McGregor, Russell Maliphant, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Javier de Frutos – with performance and interviews. A Sadler’s Wells and BBC commission, broadcast on BBC4 and internationally.
AWARDS
A very brief history: