Victor Maes graduated from LUCA School of Arts Brussels’ film program in 2015, and took courses in advanced cinematography at the Global Cinematography Institute in Los Angeles.
He’s been working as a camera assistant on feature films and commercials since 2016 (Cowards, Close, Girl, Holly, De Patrick, Nobody has to Know, The Wolf, the Fox and the Leopard). As a cinematographer he works on various film projects, alternating between fiction and documentary as well as commercial ones. ‘Ever since, I have been flying,’ the documentary by Swiss-Turkish filmmaker Aylin Gökmen which he shot, premiered at Locarno and Toronto in 2023.
Furthermore, he’s interested in exploring new technology, like VR and games, as well as revisiting analogue film. Originally he graduated as a director with a short animation film, which led to ‘A Long Goodbye’, the animated, interactive VR experience about Ida, an elderly pianist living with dementia, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Kate Voet. ‘A Long Goodbye’ premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival where it was awarded with a lion for the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize. So far the project has continued to travel to Film Fest Gent, Thessaloniki Film Festival, IDFA, Clermont Ferrand, FIPADOC and SXSW among other festivals, winning several more awards.