Virtual Showlight 2021 confirms Speakers

Showlight is excited to release the next two Speaker Videos from its Class of 2025 who graced the stage in Dijon, France. Showlight prides itself on the diversity of its speaker topics, which cover aspects of lighting from a broad spectrum of different disciplines. This month we focus on cinematography, a genre that was well represented in 2025 with presentations from the highest number of film and television LDs to date, including Thierry Goron, Thierry Arbogast AFC, and M. David Mullen ASC, who was recently awarded the ASC Career Achievement in Television Award. Today we feature Roger Simonsz and Peter Macdonald: Roger Simonsz BSC: Schrödinger’s dimmer; controlling the uncontrollable A graduate, and now fellow, of Rose Bruford college, Roger has been part of Showlight since 2005. In a career that has taken him to 30 different countries - sometimes working in languages he didn’t understand, his award-winning work as a lighting designer, cinematographer, writer and director in many different genres has been seen on stage and screens across the world. Of his presentation on working with light outdoors, he says “It’s very difficult in film to do the kind of slow lighting changes we do so easily in theatre. Using examples from Engrenages/Spiral as well as Piper we will explore how to achieve control on location, in daylight, while cueing the sun, with the help of Schrödinger’s dimmer.” Born in the Netherlands, Roger began his career in the UK and now resides in France. He has recently finished working on a new feature film in the south of France, Les Voix Colorées. Peter Macdonald BSC, DGA, DGGB: A Life in Cinema with Peter Macdonald We were privileged to host multi award-winning industry veteran, Peter Macdonald, who brought Showlight 2025 to a close with an informal chat in which he shared memories and anecdotes from his life in cinema spanning more than 70 years. Peter Macdonald worked with director Sir Laurence Olivier on four films as camera operator and got his break on the 1958 film “A Night to Remember” with cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, with whom he collaborated for the next 25 years as his camera operator (Cabaret, Superman I & II, A Bridge Too Far, Cromwell, Excalibur, Murder on the Orient Express) and with David Watkin (Yentl). Macdonald evolved into a second unit director, (Batman 1 & 4, Empire Strikes Back, the first four Harry Potters, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wolverine, The Bourne Ultimatum), and then cinematographer, director and producer. Today, Macdonald reads a lot of scripts, works as Advisor and Consultant, Producer and Executive Producer in the U.S., participates on film festival juries in Europe where he mentors young filmmakers. He is President of Le Rex, his local cinema in Veules les Roses, Normandy. Peter and his wife Madelyn Most have continued to attend numerous international film, photography and photojournalism festivals, including the BUFF Film Festival where Madelyn worked on the Fipresci Jury. They have visited Roger Simonsz in France and David Mullen in the Czech Republic and the UK on the sets of their respective new films. They work with the Art Without Limit Film Festival (https://artwithoutlimit-ks.org) for children and young adults with special needs, physical and mental disabilities/ handicaps and autism, and will head to Vienna in April to work on the First edition - a new edition – of this event. These videos are part of a series of periodic releases, with more Speaker presentation videos going live as we move towards the next Showlight. You too can get a taste of this perennial lighting networking event by viewing our showreel and some of the Speaker presentation videos from 2025 on the Showlight website: https://www.showlight.org/videos Want to know what you missed in 2025? Ever wondered what Showlight is about? Well, here’s what some of the industry’s leading publications say about Showlight 2025 – just pop over to https://www.showlight.org/press to read their reviews and reports.

What better way to start the new year than with the release of two more speaker videos from Showlight 2025? One of the highlights of the industry, with an ongoing commitment to showcasing the work from some of the most inspiring lighting practitioners today, it won’t be long before the next Showlight is on the horizon! Today we feature Bryan Raven and David Gray: Bryan Raven: Not the End of the World Climate change and sustainability are hot topics these days and high on the agenda for our industry. Inspired by Hannah Ritchie’s book of the same name, Bryan Raven presented us with a more positive and optimistic view of the battle against climate change and the wider sustainability topic with examples taken from his experiences with White Light and working with organisers in the live events sector. Since stepping back from White Light and d&b in early 2024, Bryan has been working as an independent consultant as well as a number of organisations like PLASA, ABTT and Theatre Green Book on sustainability issues and Power of Events on advocacy for the wider events industry. David Gray: Creating Light without Electricity and an 828m Facelift, 14 years on David took us on a journey through fictitious worlds where the original IP has no “electricity”, introducing us to custom character fixtures created for Smurfs, HTTYD, Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, and closing with the story of the 1000 exterior strobe Burj Khalifa installation, construction challenges…and watching it still going after 14 years. A highly experienced Project Director with a career in themed entertainment spanning over 34 years and five continents, David has a unique ability to work across cultures and industries, and brings originality and quality to every project. Notable projects include the large scale systems integration for the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, themed projects including Disneyland Paris, Motiongate (Dubai) and Genting Highlands (Malaysia) balanced with Teatro La Fenice (Venice) and Royal Opera House (London). Having recently moved to Montreal David is dedicating his time mentoring young people on his area of expertise and supporting his daughter who has launched https://www.instagram.com/thegrayspxce/ creative workshop for artistic play in London. These videos are part of a series of periodic releases, with more Speaker presentation videos going live as we move towards the next Showlight. You too can get a taste of this perennial lighting networking event by viewing our showreel and some of the Speaker presentation videos from 2025 on the Showlight website: https://www.showlight.org/videos Want to know what you missed in 2025? Ever wondered what Showlight is about? Well, here’s what some of the industry’s leading publications say about Showlight 2025 – just pop over to https://www.showlight.org/press to read their reviews and reports.