MARK VICENTE

About

Author, speaker, and award-winning Writer/Director/Producer Mark Vicente was part of the creative team behind the sleeper hit “What The Bleep Do We Know?!” Several books have been written about the film’s remarkable grassroots marketing campaign, which led to its unprecedented success.

Mark was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1965. Taking his first photograph at age four, he quickly discovered his passion for being behind the camera. After sneaking into TV studios at age 16 and jumping behind cameras (pretending to be a seasoned Camera Operator). He eventually enrolled in Film and Drama school where he specialized in Directing, Cinematography and Theater Lighting Design. After Film School he began working his way up the ranks of the camera department, starting as a Camera Assistant, then an Operator and Steadicam® Operator. He then segued into shooting Music Videos and Commercials as he developed his skills as a Cinematographer.

His first big break came as Director of Photography on the musical “SARAFINA,” starring Whoopi Goldberg. In 1992, he went to Hollywood to shoot his first studio picture for Disney entitled “FATHERHOOD,” starring Patrick Swayze and Halle Berry. At the age of 26, he became one of the youngest cinematographers to shoot a big budget studio picture. Over the next 12 years, he went on to shoot an additional 14 feature films and numerous documentaries and commercials.

Mark soon found there were in him, untold stories he desperately wanted to express as a Director. He was driven by the conviction that tales of greatness, nobility and introspection could be exciting and financially successful. 

Because of the atrocities in his native South Africa, he found himself propelled to question certain fundamental assumptions at a very young age. Beliefs about human behavior, morality, cosmology, existentialism and mysticism. Unifying his love of science, philosophy and film-making, Mark’s dream of creating cinema to inspire and provoke thought began to emerge with the creation of “What the BLEEP do we Know?!” 

Deeply moved by the unprecedented violence, taking place in Mexico, Mark released ‘Encender el Corazon’, a film about the rampant kidnapping epidemic in Mexico and a small communities efforts to stand up to the Cartels. It was bittersweet victory; while the film touched many people deeply, it was by association supporting the criminal enterprise NXIVM. Mark made the difficult decision to pull the film from distribution and, with a small band of whistleblowers, exposed their criminal behavior, resulting in multiple arrests and prosecutions.

This journey is captured in the 9 part HBO Documentary Series “THE VOW”. He has since developed a keen and passionate interest in exposing the coercive and duplicitous environments of high-control groups. His memoir: ‘QUEST’ or ‘How the BLEEP did that happen?!’ will be released shortly. It chronicles the many untold stories of what occurred in NXIVM and during he and his wife’s harrowing campaign to escape and expose the organization. The cast of characters is far larger than people may imagine. Additionally, he is in production on ‘Empathy Not Included’, a documentary about Malignant Narcissism which exposes abusive strategies.

Mark is always searching to find new and revolutionary ways to raise awareness through film. He is currently developing “Bending Time”, a Sci-Fi Series packaged with a VR and biofeedback video game; the sci-fi drama "Terra Antiquis”; the period ghost story ‘The Settlers’ and a comedy titled 'Senior Center'. Mark is always on the lookout to collaborate with others who share his love of story-telling, the examination of what it means to be human and the desire to bring to light the beauty of the human condition... without avoiding the darkness.

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