For most people it is hard to keep seeing the magic when they know how the illusion works. Not for Kris Dewitte.

In most cases, Dewitte is the first spectator of a movie, living on set between the cast and crew, between the words ‘action and cut’. In that moment Dewitte looks through his lens and lets the scene guide his feelings and skills. The pictures he makes are so true due to the fact that they are linked to his feelings and his subconsciousness. It is no surprise that his photographs are the ultimate way to sum up a movie in one picture.

But Dewitte does not stop when he hears the word cut. From that moment on, he’s like a ghost on the set, looking at the organism of a movie set, trying to capture the ever changing essence of such an environment. He is the person who looks behind the curtain, who knows who the Wizard of Oz is, and who feels comfortable with that knowledge. Translating it to the public, without touching the magical process of movie making.

Pictures of pictures. Pictures about Pictures. Kris Dewitte is intertwined with cinema on such a fundamental level. That’s why so many actors feel at ease when they are in front of his lens. In front of Dewitte’s lens, actors dare to be their true self.

With ‘Forever, and Ever’ Dewitte observes the hunger that portrait photography arouses. Looking at pictures of ourselves, we find us in the only time machines that exist, our memory. Hoping, wishing we could go back, cherish every moment again, contemplating mistakes, enjoying past experiences, … all the good and the bad, all what makes us human, can be triggered by one single portrait. The portrait is often our guide in the maze of our memories, where it can be false, but always feels true.

We often forget to live in the now. We often regret that we didn’t enjoy the moment. A picture only lives in the moment, it only captures the now. The faith of a photograph is the challenge we all endure. That is why picturing people has always been the basis to tell a story, a memory, a loss, a love. And it will be. Forever, and Ever.

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Photographer Kris Dewitte (°1967, Belgium) has built himself a solid reputation within the international film scene. Since he has been officially selected for the 50th anniversary exhibition at the Cannes Film festival with a photo of Steve Buscemi holding his handcamera on the rooftop of the Carlton Hotel and published 15 books under his name, mainly with cinema as a subject. He worked for over 20 years with the great composer Angelo Badalamenti and made several of his album photos.

At the 2002 Photo Festival Knokke-Heist, Belgium he was a guest of honor photographer.
2004 was the year of the LUX exhibition at the Ghent Caermersklooster, Belgium. In 2005 Dewitte was selected at Breda Photo in the Netherlands. In 2006 he won the prize as best cinema photographer, the exhibition was at Casa dei Cinema, Parc Borghese, Rome, Italy.

He has worked on over a 100 film productions as a stills photographer including with Justine Triet, Martin Scorsese, Abel Ferrara, Leos Carax, Tsai Ming-liang, Tran Anh Hung.

He also publishes in editorials such as Elle Magazine, Sight&Sound, Premiere Magazine and The Wrap.

KISSING PROJECT was shown in Osaka, Japan November 2009, his longest running project. All icons, artists and interesting faces kissing on black/white film, including Dita Von Teese. Also in 2009 was the first big retrospective at the Suntory Museum of Art in Japan.

OPEN ASIA was showing at Kunst Forum Würth, the biggest solo exhibition sofar. Opened on March 14, 2012 and ran until December 23, 2012. Over 12.000 ticket paying visitors came to see the exhibition. Apichatpong Weerasethakul wrote the foreword, an essay on the importance of stills photography in cinema.

And a selection of this work was shown in Germany (2019) in the exhibition called Lust Auf Mehr including works of Richter, Lynch, Kiefer and Schnabel.

Recently TRANSMISSION, his latest book was presented during the Africa Film Festival in Belgium. Director Raoul Peck wrote the foreword for this book. Peck wrote about the personality of Kris Dewitte in cinema.