FilmLight Ltd. announced today that its Los Angeles office has expanded its operations and incorporated as FilmLight Digital Film Technology, Inc., a subsidiary of FilmLight Ltd., to be the North American headquarters for the company. The expansion will ensure that the company can continue to provide its trademark high level of pre- and post-sales support to FilmLight’s customers, and to drive continued adoption of FilmLight’s products in North America. The company operates under the guidance of newly-named President, Craig Risebury.
FilmLight has expanded the US team to provide enhanced services to its customers, and to ensure the specific requirements of the North American market are understood and implemented in its products. Adding their considerable experience to the FilmLight team are:
Neil Robinson, Head of Engineering. Mr. Robinson joins from Industrial Light & Magic, where he spent four years as Senior Software Engineer developing and implementing color management systems for feature films. He oversees U.S. customer support with a focus on the Truelight color management system, and also provides systems integration for the Baselight color grading system. Prior to ILM, Mr. Robinson held development engineering positions at leading film post company, Cinesite. With over a decade of experience in the film post industry, Mr. Robinson holds a Masters degree in Data/Telecommunications and Computer Networking and an undergraduate degree in Electronic Computer Systems.
Mike Lafuente, Product Specialist. Mr. Lafuente will support continued adoption of the Baselight range of systems, providing pre-sales consulting, system integration, customer training and system engineering. Prior to FilmLight, Mr. Lafuente spent several years as a CG Systems Engineer at a top Los Angeles post facility, and he has held application and field technical engineering positions at Sony VFX Software America, IO Partners, Inc., and Videotex Systems. He has engineering credits on films including “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” “Peter Pan,” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.”
Kevin Dowton, Product Specialist. Mr. Dowton is one of the original FilmLight developers, and has been providing worldwide development support for the Northlight scanner since the company was founded in 2002. He has joined the U.S. team to provide development and customer support for Northlight in North America. Prior to FilmLight, Mr. Dowton held various engineering positions at Cintel and ITK, where he provided development and support for telecine technology. His eleven-year industry career has been focused on film scanning.
A member of FilmLight’s original team, President Craig Risebury was responsible for successfully opening the North American market for Northlight, Truelight, and Baselight. He was instrumental in growing the operation through Northlight sales to customers including ILM, FotoKem, Modern VideoFilm, Pacific Title, and Rhythm & Hues. Prior to FilmLight, Mr. Risebury held similar roles at ITK, as head of U.S. Operations/Engineering, and Cintel, where he was responsible for introducing telecine products to the Los Angeles market and driving the product’s initial adoption in the U.S.
Risebury noted, “A key to FilmLight’s success has been the close ties we maintain with our customers. We place high priority on getting users’ input into the products, and with this new team on board and dedicated to North American customers, we can keep our development and support at the highest levels during our rapid expansion.”
FilmLight Commercial Director Peter Stothart said, “We see film and video post facilities moving quickly to data-based workflows and relying on FilmLight products to enable new DI and non-linear video grading services. With an expanded worldwide team, FilmLight can provide products and consultancy to implement these new and exciting workflows.”
Contact – Deepa Parbhoo ([email protected]) +44 20 7292 0400
