Cinematographer, Director of Photography, DOP | Michael Tessari

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Michael Tessari is a cinematographer and director of photography based in Adelaide, South Australia. His feature credits include the SXSW-nominated Monolith, the horror feature Diabolic, the road film With or Without You and the upcoming The Run, alongside the Netflix original series Gymnastics Academy: A Second Chance and commercial work recognised with multiple ACS Gold Awards. This page collects press coverage, reviews and interviews from those projects, together with original articles written for filmmakers and producers: case studies, behind the scenes breakdowns and practical guides to shooting in South Australia.

GIZMODO - MONOLITH TRAILER DROPS!!

Lily Sullivan is about to see her horror profile rise exponentially—she stars in Evil Dead Rise, which releases in April—but today, io9 has the exclusive teaser premiere of another genre film she’ll soon appear in: Monolith, an Australian sci-fi thriller screening in the SXSW Film Festival’s “Midnighters” program.

Directed by Matt Vesely and written by Lucy Campbell, Monolith stars Sullivan as a troubled journalist who enters self-imposed isolation, then becomes convinced she’s stumbled onto the story of a lifetime. Her subsequent solo investigation may or may not involve aliens. Check out the teaser!

An Alien Conspiracy Looms in Sci-Fi Thriller Monolith The official synopsis for Monolith is as follows: “A bold science fiction thriller featuring one woman, one location, and a mystery uncovered through audio—in which a young journalist discovers a strange artifact and begins to convince herself it is evidence of an alien conspiracy. Recently disgraced and desperate for a story, the Interviewer holes herself up in her parents’ luxurious home and gets to work on the only job she can get—hosting a clickbait investigative podcast. When she receives an anonymous email leading her to a retired housekeeper who claims her life has been destroyed by a strange black brick, the Interviewer embarks on a mystery that leads her down a rabbit hole of truth and lies at the heart of her own story.”

Conspiracies, rabbit holes, strange artifacts, a character getting lost in her own brain, a mystery that unfolds through a patchwork of different voices? Yep, we’re intrigued. Monolith screens March 13, 14, and 18 at SXSW; it is actively seeking a distributor and does not yet have a release date.

Michael Tessari