Director/DP Albert Kodagolian looks back and recalls that he has been a “perpetual foreigner.”
Born to Armenian parents, the helmer spent his early childhood in the southern regions of the Caspian Sea near the Armenian and Iranian border. At age 12, he was sent to a boarding school in Cyprus because of political turmoil in Iran. After four years of separation, he was reunited with his parents in Germany, where they lived for a year until they immigrated to the United States.
“We had to leave new languages and adapt to new cultures,” Kodagolian recalls. “I feel like I’m a citizen of the world…That’s probably one of the most unique characteristics that I have. Having to assimilate and live in harmony with others, that made me an acute observer…that’s what I do in my job. [Evoke] human characteristics…and distill that in 30 seconds.”
“Living in different countries, you realize the power of the image to transcend language and cultural barriers,” he continues. “That not true about a sentence…More for me that’s probably one of the biggest fascinations with cinema and visual storytelling.”
Kodagolian attended the University of Southern California and next developed his craft, first as a producer and then as a cinematographer on a number of independent feature films. He then moved to London, where he made his first short film, Moving On, which has screened at the 2004 Edinburgh International Film Festival, Cardiff Film Festival, Greenwich Film Festival, Britspotting 2005 in Berlin, and the Kodak/BAFTA short film showcase in London. “Moving On is about letting go of the past baggage and unresolved relationships that tie people down, to gracefully move on and not being bogged down by the past,” Kodagolian explains.
Today he is on the directorial roster of bicoastal/international Believe Media for representation in North America and many parts of the world. In Europe he is repped through Joy Films, a division of RSA in London.
His work has earned recognition including a couple of SHOOT Top Spot honors. Via RSA London, Kodagolian helmed “Human Suit” for the Sci-Fi Channel (2/3/06), which features a man who develops a “human suit,” which his dog can wear. The plan is for the dog to go to work in the man’s place, and the dog excels, earning employee-of-the-month honors and a promotion. The dog drives to work in a car with the license plate, “Top Dog.” This is coupled with a role reversal at home. Finally, the dog throws a ball to his former master, who smiles at the offbeat turn of events. The word “If” appears across the screen, and the letters are repositioned to help form the Sci-Fi Channel logo.
Kodagolian also directed and lensed Theraflu’s “Bus,” a Top Spot (10/28/05) produced by Believe for Saatchi & Saatchi, New York. Here, the director captures the misery of a cold and flu sufferer, who is forced to ride a bus on a rainy day; relief comes in the form of his Theraflu. Kodagolian adds to this mood with cinematography that was dark and underexposed.
“I have shot, almost exclusively, everything I’ve directed this year,” Kodagolian relates, adding that he greatly enjoys both the directing and cinematography disciplines–one being very collaborative, the other quite individual.
“There is something complex and rewarding about directing,” the helmer says. “What I enjoy about directing is telling stories and creating a tone and an atmosphere for stories to exist in…ultimately cinematography is one of the leading contributors to that.
“What’s beautiful about cinematography is it’s very Zen,” he adds. “It’s a one-to-one relationship that is so simple; it’s about light. I’m really interested in light and that is the basis of cinema–that everything you get to experience starts with a ray of light reflecting from a surface…In cinematography, the eyepiece is the tip of the pen with which you write.”
He adds that he also enjoys working with other DPs, relating that he recently collaborated with such noted lensers as Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC (Brokeback Mountain, Ray, Babel) on an ad for Pontiac, and Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Ali, Sleepy Hollow) on Budweiser.
“The best part of collaborating with a director of photography is this is the person you can turn to, to discuss something personal or creative…someone that you collaborate with and confide in.”
Looking ahead, Kodagolian says he’s focused on commercials. Yet he is also co-writing a feature in his spare time.
“The goal is to eventually make a film but I don’t feel a rush to go out and make something,” he explains. “Like a commercial, you need to do it when it feels right.”
At press time, Kodagolian was about to embark on additional Sci-Fi Channel work. Looking back and forward, the helmer concludes that his goals have never changed. “I’ve been dedicated to finding good scripts with good endings, that are centered on an idea…Then I can bring something to it that is human. [The people at] Believe are sensitive to that.”
Director And Emmy Award Winner Nick Nanton And Abundance Studios Announce The Streaming Release of “BRISA”
Nick Nanton (Dickie V, The Truth About Reading, Operation Toussaint), Abundance Studios, and Astonish Entertainment announce the International streaming release of BRISA, a powerful and gripping documentary about Brisa De Angulo Losada’s fight as a survivor and advocate against childhood abuse and sexual violence. BRISA can be seen on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Doc+. Her decades-long pursuit led to a landmark case at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, reshaping the legal landscape across Latin America. Directed by 24-time Emmy winner Nick Nanton, BRISA features Brisa de Angulo Losada and Gloria Estefan. Out of 700 submissions from over 77 countries, the film was shortlisted in the top 20 for the IDA documentary awards. Brisa de Angulo Losada, a survivor and fierce advocate for victims of childhood sexual violence, pursued justice for decades, taking her case all the way to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights after Bolivia’s legal system failed her. After she was assaulted at the age of 15 by a male family member, Brisa's rights were repeatedly trampled on throughout the ensuing judicial process, compelling her to go to law school, and ultimately ensuring no one else experiences what she did. While attending Rutgers Law School, she chose to represent herself and courageously shed anonymity by rejecting a “Jane Doe” case, instead choosing to use her name and thereby empowering other survivors to reclaim their identities. Her fight resulted in a groundbreaking 2023 ruling that reformed laws in 23 Latin American countries. Through her humanitarian efforts, she has supported more than 2,600 victims and families in navigating the court system to seek justice against their abusers, even as her own abuser remains on Interpol's red list as Colombia... Read More