David Claessen

Filmmaker

Cinematographer David Claessen started working as a Feature Film Director of Photography when he received the opportunity to photograph the French film, Haute Mer, for the Argentinean director Eduardo Cozarinsky. Since settling in the USA, Claessen photographed The Telephone [Whoopi Goldberg], Getting In [Matthew Perry, Callista Flockhart] for Doug Liman [Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith]. An Evil Town directed by Richard Sears won Best Short Film at the Film Festival of Cannes, France. A few years later, Claessen won the Kodak Achievement Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Marc Chiat's Every Dog Has Its Day. While primarily focused on commercials [Mercedes, Heineken, Nike, Cadillac] & Music Videos [Britney Spears, Snoop Dogg, Back Street Boys, Aaliyah, Brandy, Monica, BoyzIIMen, Jay Z] in the past decades, he has completed several films with director Julie Dash [Daughters of the Dust] including The Rosa Parks Story. With Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Claessen scored his first # 1 Box Office Hit. Make It Happen reunited Claessen with director Darren Grant [Diary of a Mad Black Woman]. Later, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish reunited him with Bille Woodruff [Honey]. Recently, he photographed the first season of Prentice Penny's series, The Hustle, and Back to School Mom for Christopher Erskin.