Denise Zmekhol brings together a humanist perspective and a commercial director's visual acuity. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she attended FIAM, Faculdades Integradas Alcantra Machado, studying Social Communication/Journalism, then continuing her studies in photography, film and broadcasting at San Francisco State University in the United States.

Early in her career, Denise worked as a news cameraperson for KDTV Spanish language television in San Francisco, then joined Jose Araujo as an associate producer on the acclaimed documentary, "Hail Umbanda," ("Salve Umbanda").

When she returned to Brazil in 1987, Denise assisted on a number of documentaries filmed in the Amazon, such as Glen Switkes' and Monti Aguirre's "Voices of the Amazon," along with works for German TV, for the American producer/director, Miranda Smith, and others. Her Amazonian travels took her to remote areas in the states of Rondonia, Acre, Para, and Mato Grosso, where she gained very rugged field experience as a sound recordist, assistant director, production manager, and English/Portuguese translater.

During that time, she photographed extensively, producing the photo essay titled "Children of the Amazon," (which may be viewed on these pages) and taking the last photographs of rubber tapper/activist Chico Mendes before his untimely assassination. Her photos of Chico Mendes appeared in Time Magazine and many other publications worldwide.

In 1990, Ms. Zmekhol began work as a freelance director with several Sao Paulo production companies, creating a variety of marketing and public relations projects for Kelloggs, Max Factor, Pepsi, General Motors, Fiat and others. She quickly advanced to commercial directing, working on political and consumer spots. But before long, change was in the wind.

"I found the need to do something to bring more consciousness to my work, to help people to get to know themselves, to heal themselves, using creativity for a larger purpose," Ms. Zmekhol explains.

In 1998 , Denise began a new collaboration with Robert Lundahl, creating the Digital Journey series for Public Televison (PBS), and studying philosophy at CIIS, California Institute of Integral Studies where the Children of the Amazon photographs were exhibited in the summer of 2001. In February 2002 another showing was at the 14th Annual Solo Mujeres Exhibit at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, in San Francisco. Ms Zmekhol has also shown her photos at the Stanford University in April 2002, and exhibiti them at the Center for Latin American Studies, U.C. Berkeley, until December 2002.

In the process of revisiting her Amazon experiences through preparing these images for exhibit, Ms. Zmekhol wondered what had become of her (once) young subjects. The photo exhibit,"Children of the Amazon," has became a film project focusing on the lives of the children whose playfulness, curiosity and connection with the forest captured the photographer's heart 15 years ago.

Ms. Zmekhol speaks Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English.

Filmography

2002/2005 Producer and Director for documentary Children of the Amazon.

2004 Producer and Director for video "Teaching Skills for Assistive Technology Specialists"  for the American Foundation for the Blind (San Francisco, California)

2003 Producer and Director for video "Teaching Machines" (San Francisco, California)

1998/2001 Co-Producer and Post Production Supervisor. 39 episodes for “Digital Journey: Series from a Networked Planet” technology television series airing prime time on US Public Television, TVO/Canada, numerous stations in China and other venues. Produced by Robert Lundahl and Associates (San Francisco, California)

1990/1998 Director for commercials and marketing projects for Kellogg’s, Max Factor, Fiat, General Motors, IBM and others (Brazil)

1992 Created an in scene video for the short film entitled “1999” 15 minutes, directed by Toni Venturi (Brazil)

1989 Still photographer for “Boca de Ouro” a feature film directed by Walter Avancini (Brazil)

1988 and 1989 Production Coordinator and translator for “Voice of the Amazon” 60 minutes, documentary produced and directed by Miranda Smith (Brazil/USA)

1989 Associate Producer for “Landscape of Memories” a feature film, directed by Jose Araujo (Brazil/USA)

1987/88 Sound for a series of documentaries about Brazil for German Television directed By Urban Detlef (Amazon and Sao Paulo, Brazil)