by FilmInk Staff
Alex Serafini is an acclaimed Cinematographer based in Melbourne. He has worked across Commercials, Documentary, TV, Shorts, Features and Music Videos.
His drama and documentary work has screened at major international festivals including SXSW, Palm Springs, MIFF, and Sydney Film Festival.
In the last few years, he has won multiple Australian Cinematography Society awards at state and national level for cinematography for his commercial work. In 2023, he completed work on Thomas Hyland’s feature documentary This Is Going To Be Big, which won the Audience Award at MIFF.
Alex’s latest work in the feature film world is on the upcoming independent film THE LATCHER, a psychological chiller which takes a haunting look at a midwife whose struggle to move on following the loss of her child threatens to unleash a monstrous entity into her life. THE LATCHER is the feature directorial debut of filmmaker James Hunter whose award-winning short film Nest played at MIFF, Sitges, Vancouver International Film Festival and Atlanta Film Festival.
THE LATCHER was a micro budget labour of love as Alex describes: “There wasn’t much money, but I was drawn to the project upon meeting James the director because he was just so enthusiastic. We shared so much in common, in terms of what films we love, what kinds of films we want to make. Straight away I was in.”
The film was shot in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
“We had so much time to shoot because we just did it on weekends. When I first met James, we realised we only live 10 minutes from each other. We live in a kind of semi urban-rural suburb north of Melbourne here. In winter, it’s such an atmospheric place. We drew a lot of inspiration from the area. Creepy houses we’d see and dead trees. We’d talk a lot about movies, but a lot of inspiration came from the location. Which we felt hadn’t been seen much in Australian films before. We talked about a lot of ’70s new Hollywood films, early horror films, psychological horror films like Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby were big touchstones.”
The teaser trailer for THE LATCHER can be viewed on the film’s official instagram – www.instagram.com/thelatcher
“James would also share music that we’d listen to together. Things we thought could inform the soundtrack. That was an interesting way in too.”
Speaking of music, it’s not every day that one of the biggest bands in the world comes knocking on your door. But that’s exactly what happened when Alex received the call to shoot Coldplay’s new music video ‘The Karate Kid’ starring Ralph Macchio and directed by Chris Candy (John Candy’s son).
Alex describes the experience of shooting on stage during their recent concert in Melbourne as “Surreal”. He was also suffering from vertigo after having just finished filming a commercial on a cruise ship, which made him worried that he would fall off the stage, something that recently happened to Coldplay singer Chris Martin.
“I was pretty daunted. We had one take to get it right on the stage in that giant arena with everyone watching. The whole thing was crazy.”
What advice would Alex give to aspiring cinematographers in Australia? “I would just say shoot as much as you can. Shoot the stuff that you are interested in. Don’t waste time getting involved in projects that don’t interest you because you think that’s the thing to do. Just seek out people who love the same things or are inspired by the same things as you. Even if you’re doing it on a shoestring budget, just make things with your friends. That’s the best way to keep the passion alive.”
