François Ellis

Director of Photography

As someone who still hasn’t really chosen what he wants to be when he grows up, I’ve found that cinematography is the one space where all of my interests converge. My interest in film came from DVD special features where they showed you how they made the movie in question. My interest then grew into visual effects, and as an art student in high school, I imagined my career could go in that direction. I was always around still cameras growing up but never thought it could turn into a job. At some point, I gained an interest in video and started filming projects left and right. I was helping out my fellow schoolmates who wanted to go to film school, but I had other plans for my life. I studied Industrial Design because it felt like the best course to hone my skills and go into visual effects, but as I was studying, I started a side business as a videographer. I loved it and decided that this was what I wanted to do—to tell stories with a visual medium that let me use the artistic skills I had learned in school.

In 2019, I had the opportunity to intern in the film department of a church in Colorado, USA. What drew me to that job was that they were telling real stories from real people and bringing them to life on screen. I worked there for two years, learning from some of the most talented people I have met. This season of my life came to a close and I returned to Belgium, where I started my own video business. I knew no one in the industry in Belgium, so I had to learn every role. My training and my inspiration always came from cinema rather than video. Working on my own at a fast pace helped forge my way of working into a distinctive style.

In 2025, I was asked to be Director of Photography on my first narrative fiction. Mattheo-Hubert Merino trusted me on his entry to the Nikon Film Festival. I was very nervous about leading a team of brilliantly talented people, but once shooting started, I felt like everything I was taught and had to learn by myself prepared me for this moment. I remember during the night of the first shoot day, while giving directions, I said under my breath, "I’m doing the thing." That short ended up being nominated for Best DOP within the Benelux competition.

I got into video because I thought the gear looked cool. I still think it looks cool, especially as a trained industrial designer; I love looking at how different people have come up with different solutions for the challenges we face each day. However, I’ve been in situations where the gear got in the way of telling the story. A gimbal that needs to be rebalanced, a FIZ motor that’s not synchronized, or a brand-new light that was giving us difficulties where they had to phone the manufacturer on the other side of the world to make it work. We figured it out after some frustrations, but it made me realize that these are all just tools. We are the ones who tell the story. I learned that you shouldn’t let the gear dictate how you tell the story and that sometimes, you have to break the rules, so to say.

Photo by Mattheo-Hubert Merino