2006

© Rosie Perera [2008]

© Michael Courtney

               

 JAN KIESSER   CSC/ASC

Born: ?, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as Jan E. Kiesser. His family moved to Los Angeles [Studio City] when he was five.

Education: University of California, Los Angeles [UCLA].

Career: Served in the US Army in Germany. Started making Super 8mm films. Became anim ph in 1970. Became c.asst & c.op. Moved back to Canada in 1994.

Ph commercials dir by Nigel Dick, Ulf Buddensieck, Jon Stanley, Gary Weis, Louis Lyne, Danny Boyle, a.o.

Member of the ASC since 1992.

Awards: 'Genie' Award nom [1998] for 'Such a Long Journey'; 'Genie' Award nom [2002] for 'Rare Birds'; 'Emmy' Award nom [2003] for 'Door to Door'; ASC TV Award nom [2006] for 'Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical'; 'Genie' Award nom [2006] & CSC Award nom [2007] for 'Beowulf & Grendel'; 'Leo' Award [2007] for 'Fido'.

Website: Jan Kiesser



 FILMS

1970        Premonition/The Impure [Alan Rudolph] c; sfx ph (+ co-c.asst); ph: John Bailey

1976        Jackson County Jail/The Innocent Victim [Michael Miller] c; 2uc (+ 2ud); ph: Bruce Logan

1978        The Rose [Mark Rydell] c; co-add concert ph; ph: Vilmos Zsigmond

1981        Endangered Species [Alan Rudolph] c; addph; ph: Paul Lohmann

1981        Something Wicked This Way Comes [Jack Clayton] c; addph; ph: Stephen Burum

1982        Point of Departure [Jennifer Warren] ?; short/30m; prod American Film Institute

1982        Table for Five [Robert Lieberman] c; addph; ph: Vilmos Zsigmond

1983        Meatballs Part II/Space Kid [Ken Wiederhorn] c; 2uc; ph: Donald M. Morgan

1983        Return Engagement [Alan Rudolph] c; doc/89m

1984        Purple Hearts [Sidney J. Furie] p/c

1984        Choose Me [Alan Rudolph] c

1984        The River Rat [Tom Rickman] c; 2uc: David Myers & Steve Yaconelli

1984        Weird Science [John Hughes] c; co-addph; ph: Matthew Leonetti

1984        Fright Night [Tom Holland] p/c; filmed 1984-85

1985        The Check Is in the Mail.../The Cheque Is in the Post [Joan Darling] c

1986        Made in Heaven [Alan Rudolph] b&w/c

1986        Some Kind of Wonderful [Howard Deutch] c

1987        The Moderns [Alan Rudolph] c; addph; ph: Toyomichi Kurita

1987        Clean and Sober [Glenn Gordon Caron] c

1988        Sing [Richard Baskin] c; co-addph; ph: Peter Sova

1989        Dad [Gary David Goldberg] c

1990        V.I. Warshawski [Jeff Kanew] c; 2uc & boat chase seq: John M. Stephens

1992        Aspen Extreme [Patrick Hasburgh] c; co-2uc; ph: Steven Fierberg & Robert Primes

1992        Trouble Bound [Jeff Reiner] c; addph; ph: Janusz Kaminski

1992        King of the Hill [Steven Soderbergh] c; addph; ph: Elliot Davis

1992        The Air Up There [Paul Michael Glaser] replaced by ph Dick Pope

1993        Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle/Mrs. Parker and the Round Table [Alan Rudolph] s35/b&w-c

1994        Georgia [Ulu Grosbard] c

1994        Man with a Gun/Gun for Hire/Hired for Killing [David Wyles] c; 2uc: Wade Ferley; aph: Peter McLennan

1994        Jumanji [Joe Johnston] c; 2uc; ph: Thomas Ackerman

1995        Larger Than Life [Howard Franklin] c; 2uc; ph: Elliot Davis

1996        Bad Moon [Eric Red] Clairmont-Scope/c

1996        Kundun [Martin Scorsese] s35/c; co-2uc; ph: Roger Deakins

1997        Finding Graceland [David Winkler] c; addph; ph: Elliot Davis

1997        The X Files [Rob Bowman] s35/c; co-glacier unit ph; ph: Ward Russell

1997        The People [Aaron Lipstadt] c

1997        Such a Long Journey [Sturla Gunnarsson] c; originally a project with dir Deepa Mehta & ph Guy Dufaux (1994-95)

1998        Bruno/The Dress Code [Shirley MacLaine] c

1999        Trixie [Alan Rudolph] c

1999        Dr. T & the Women [Robert Altman] p/c; desert unit ph: Ed Lachman

2000        Rare Birds [Sturla Gunnarsson] c

2001        Now & Forever [Bob Clark] c

2001        I Spy [Betty Thomas] c; co-2uc; ph: Oliver Wood

2004        Beowulf & Grendel [Sturla Gunnarsson] s35/c

[Right] - "Fido"

2005

Fido [Andrew Currie] s35/c; 2uc: Randall Platt

2005

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift [Justin Lin] s35/c; 2uc; ph: Stephen Windon

2006

War/Rogue Assassin [Philip Atwell] s35/c; co-addph; ph: Pierre Morel

2007

Smile [Julia Kwan] s16/c; short/17m

2007

The Box Collector [John Daly] c

2008

Conversation with the Supplicant [Mark A. Lewis] b&w; short/10m

2008

The Thaw [Mark A. Lewis] HD scope (Thomson Viper)/c

"Pop Switch" - photo by Rosie Perera

2008

Pop Switch [Jason R. Goode] HD scope (Panasonic)/c; short/18m

2009

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Chris Columbus] s35/c; 2uc; ph: Stephen Goldblatt

2009

Charlie St. Cloud [Burr Steers] Hawk Scope/c; co-2uc; ph: Enrique Chediak


 TELEVISION

1971

The Point [Fred Wolf] anim tvm; co-anim ph

1984

Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story [Karen Arthur] tvm

1984

The Ratings Game/The Mogul [Danny DeVito] tvm; addph; ph: Tim Suhrstedt

1995

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story [Bill Corcoran] tvm

1995

The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space [Max Tash] pilot

1995

A Holiday to Remember [Jud Taylor] tvm; + 2uc

1996

The Perfect Mother/The Mother-In-Law [Peter Levin] tvm

1996

[National Lampoon's] Dad's Week Off [Neal Israel] tvm

1996

Murder in My Mind [Robert Iscove] tvm

1997

The Baby Dance [Jane Anderson] tvm; 2uc: Tobias Schliessler

1997

Nightmare Street [Colin Bucksey] tvm

1998

Killer App [Robert Altman] pilot

2000

Holiday Heart [Robert Townsend] tvm

2001

Door to Door [Steven Schachter] tvm

2002

An Unexpected Love/This Much I Know [Lee Rose] tvm

2003

Jack [Lee Rose] tvm

2003

It Must Be Love/Surviving Love [Steven Schachter] tvm

2004

Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical [Andy Fickman] tvm/b&w-c/HD (Sony F900)

2006

Luna: Spirit of the Whale [Don McBrearty] tvm; uwph: Braden Haggerty

2006

Nobody [Jeff Woolnough] pilot

2008

Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins [Brian Levant] tvm; 2uc: Karl Herrmann


 FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT/OPERATOR

1970

Premonition/The Impure [Alan Rudolph] co-c.asst (+ sfx ph); ph: John Bailey

1971

Idaho Transfer/Deranged [Peter Fonda] co-c.asst; ph: Bruce Logan

1973

This Is a Hijack [Barry Pollack] c.asst; ph: Bruce Logan

1974

Jaws [Steven Spielberg] c.asst uwph; uwph: Rexford Metz; ph: Bill Butler

1974

Rooster Cogburn [Stuart Millar] co-1st c.asst; ph: Harry Stradling Jr.

1976

Welcome to L.A. [Alan Rudolph] 1st c.asst; ph: David Myers

1976

My Mom's Having a Baby [Larry Elikann; tvm] c.op; ph: Donald M. Morgan; an 'ABC Afterschool Special'

1977

One On One [Lamont Johnson] co-c.op; ph: Donald M. Morgan

1977

The Gauntlet [Clint Eastwood] c.op; ph: Rexford Metz

1977

Remember My Name [Alan Rudolph] c.op; ph: Tak Fujimoto

1977

Hair [Milos Forman] c.op California unit; ph: Miroslav Ondricek

1978

A Perfect Couple [Robert Altman] c.op; ph: Edmond L. Koons

1979

Elvis [John Carpenter; tvm] c.op; ph: Donald M. Morgan; released theatrically outside USA

1979

Heaven's Gate/Johnson County Wars [Michael Cimino] c.op; ph: Vilmos Zsigmond

1979

Make Me an Offer [Jerry Paris; tvm] c.op; ph: Donald M. Morgan

1979

Roadie [Alan Rudolph] c.op; ph: David Myers

1980

Blow Out [Brian De Palma] c.op; ph: Vilmos Zsigmond

1981

Jinxed! [Don Siegel & (uncred) Sam Peckinpah] co-c.op; ph: Vilmos Zsigmond

1981

Hysterical [Chris Bearde] co-c.op 2u; ph: Donald M. Morgan