Dan Freene ACS has shot several feature documentaries, including the highly anticipated “Skate Goat” featuring the enigmatic, Leandre’ Sanders, and the award winning feature on the power of meditation, “The Portal.” Other highlights include the multi awarded series “Stories of Ambition” - Nat Geo”, “No Friend But The Mountains” - ABC, the AFL series “Make Your Mark” for Amazon Prime, and the popular series, “Hipsters” featuring Samuel Johnston for SBS. Aside from creating thought provoking story based images, he is able to put his subjects at a natural ease, enabling for the most honest portrayal of their story.
Leandre Sanders was born in Venice Beach, LA, into a world of gangs and crime. The only thing that kept him out of trouble was his love of skateboarding. While his older brothers joined the family tradition of running with gangs, Leandre - dubbed Skategoat - spent most of his days and nights at Venice Beach skatepark with his younger brother Leontay. He was so talented and determined that, at the age of 11, he caught the eye of filmmaker Van Alpert. Over the next ten years, Van documented Leandre's struggle to perfect his skateboarding and to survive. At 14-years old, Leandre was forced to leave his rapidly unravelling family life and started sleeping rough at the bowl of the skate park, relying on his friend Haden and the kindness of a local woman, Katie, who looked out for the two boys. And despite this adversity, Leandre never lost his drive to skate - Set against the visually palpable decline of LA, the decade captured by Van charts Leandre's journey to an internationally-respected skater who has perfected his own unique 'no stance' skate style. The result is a gritty reflection of what it takes to make it in the skating world - and what it takes to survive as a disadvantaged kid in the United States. Pulsing with a tactile sense of street style and punctuated by an incredible soundtrack. Skategoat is a story about the streets told from the streets, that proves anyone can seize their dream.
Directed by Van Alpert
This Film Studio
Produced by Michael Lawrence, Nicholas Cook..
Release Date 2022
ACS SILVER AWARD
What would happen if 7 billion people all meditated? Could it shift the trajectory of our planet? THE PORTAL is an immersive, cinematic experience that answers the question: How can we really change the world?
The film is richly visual and sonically powerful. Binaural beats and an evocative score weave a captivating spell in this experiential documentary that takes the viewer on their own mindfulness journey through a tapestry of technology, love, existentialism, human potential, brain hacking, stillness and inner peace.
Directed by Jacqui Fifer
Produced by Tom Cronin
Cinematographer : Dan Freene ACS
https://entertheportal.com/
The Portal Teaser Film
No Friend But The Moutain
When author and refugee Behrouz Boochani was writing his book from a detention centre on Manus Island, he could have hardly believed how widely the work would come to be embraced.
Following Australia's oldest community orchestra, this 2-part special event series offers an incisive look at the politics and creative challenges behind the making of "No Friend but the Mountains: A Symphonic Song Cycle".
ABC
Produced by Karl Conti
Directed by Myles Conti
Released June 2021
Stories of Ambition is an 8-part documentary series about what it takes to become a climbing champion, from facing fears to setting goals, making sacrifices, pushing yourself to the limits. Partnered with Nat Geo to take it to a global audience.
Production Agency: The Precinct
Creative Director: Michelle Galluzzo
Producer: Henry Motteram
Director: Richard Vilensky
Cinematographer: Dan Freene ACS
Photographer - Dan Freene ACS 6 x OOH Images for Global
Client: JLL Singapore
Awards:
ACS AWARD WINNER
Webby Award Winner Best Sports Video Series.
Channel Gold at the Drum Awards.
Bronze Content Marketing Awards (Best Video Series)
CAPTAINS Rory Sloane and Stephen Coniglio, and stars Nic Naitanui and Eddie Betts, will be key faces in Amazon's new docu-series to launch in 2021.
As well as Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew and Richmond president Peggy O'Neal, cameras will track the six individuals through their every move in 2020 to bring fans unprecedented behind-the-scenes insight.
Filming started ahead of the 2020 season and continued during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Available on Amazon Prime March 2021
DOP Adelaide Unit Dan Freene ACS.
Produced by JAM TV
ACTAA AWARD Best Direction Television Light Entertainment 2016
What Is A Hipster? - How did fixed gear bikes, artisanal cheese, craft beer and long beards evolve from being niche trends to clichés and commodities? The charming but not particularly hip Samuel Johnson digs into the past to find the origins of the cultural stereotype. Acknowledging that the word has now taken on a distinctively negative connotation and that the peak of the contemporary hipster is actually behind us, the new six-part series Hipsters is a light-hearted look back at the cultural phenomenon that was. Johnson sets off on an international odyssey that takes him from Melbourne to New York, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Detroit, Sydney, Tokyo and Shanghai to unpack how and why the now instantly recognisable hipster archetype grew from a localised street subculture to a global commodity, and ultimately a figure of ridicule, within the space of a few short years.
Directed by Seth Larney
Produced by Lisa Shaunessy and Richard Kelly
Cinematography by Dan Freene ACS