Who you're hiring in Lisbon
I'm Theo Solnik, founder of Haikai Media and the cinematographer on every Lisbon shoot I deliver. I trained at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin under Fred Kelemen, Béla Tarr's cinematographer on The Turin Horse, and have been shooting corporate, documentary and cinema work for over 30 years.
Lisbon is the European city I've worked in most — dozens of projects across corporate, institutional and diplomatic assignments. I was the official photographer for the State Visit of the Dutch Royal Couple to Portugal, commissioned by the Dutch Royal Household, and documented the trade mission of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg for the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. On the corporate side that has included Pfizer's executive summit, Huawei's conference content, Gilead's Top Performers Summit, KAICIID and the World Aviation Festival.
My first feature, Anna Pavlova Lives in Berlin, won the Prize for Young Film Art from the German National Gallery and the German Film Academy, presented by Bruno Ganz and Iris Berben, and was exhibited daily over four months at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. My work has since screened at festivals and museums in more than 25 countries.
I hold Italian and Brazilian nationality and a U.S. O-1B visa as an Artist with Extraordinary Ability. I work in seven languages, Portuguese and English among them.
When you book a Lisbon shoot, you're hiring the director of photography who personally lights, frames and delivers the work — not a booking agent passing the job on.
Full biography and credentials here.
Video production services
in Lisbon
I produce corporate and institutional video in Lisbon with a senior, compact setup. Typical engagements:
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Executive interviews and leadership messages, single or two-camera
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Corporate films and case studies for global teams
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Conference and event coverage, multi-camera with stage audio feed
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Testimonials filmed on location, in offices or at venues
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Brand and documentary-style films with controlled visuals
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Post-production: edit, captions, deliverables for web and social
Executive interviews in Lisbon
Executive interviews are the most common corporate video request in Lisbon, usually filmed in offices, conference venues, hotels or controlled rented locations that allow clean sound and consistent visuals across multiple speakers.
My standard setup is two cameras — a wider primary and a tighter secondary — on a RED Komodo 6K with Zeiss Standard Speed primes at 16, 24, 32, 50 and 85mm. Audio runs to a Sennheiser MKH-416 shotgun or Sanken COS-11 lavalier with an independent 32-bit float recorder as backup.
For teams coordinating from abroad, interviews are structured with a briefing beforehand and fast review links after filming, so stakeholders in other time zones can approve without delay.
Conference and event video production in Lisbon
Lisbon hosts a heavy international conference calendar and I've covered a good deal of it — Web Summit, the World Aviation Festival, EUPVSEC, KAICIID, pharmaceutical and industry summits.
Coverage is built around locked-off cameras on stage and speaker, with additional units for audience interaction and contextual footage. Audio integrity is the critical factor: where the venue allows I take a direct feed from the audio desk alongside independent on-site recording for redundancy.
Venues I've worked in include the Altice Arena, FIL at Parque das Nações, the Epic Sana, the Palácio da Ajuda and the InterContinental, along with the conference hotels and exhibition spaces the international circuit uses.
Deliverables can include full session recordings, a highlights edit and shorter social versions, planned so key material is delivered while the event is still current.
Corporate video production in Lisbon
Corporate work in Lisbon usually combines interviews with contextual filming of the people, environments and processes behind the organisation. Filming is planned around real operational schedules to minimise disruption.
B-roll may include offices, work environments, meetings and exterior establishing shots, giving the edit structure and visual continuity.
Post-production runs in staged review rounds: assembling the narrative, integrating brand elements, balancing audio and preparing delivery formats for the intended platforms.
Case Study: State Visit of the Dutch Royal Couple to Portugal
In October 2017 the Embassy of the Netherlands in Lisbon commissioned me as official photographer for the state visit of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima to Portugal, producing the communications record for the Dutch Royal Household across the three-day programme. The visit ran from 10 to 12 October at the invitation of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and covered Lisbon, Alverca, Sintra and Cascais, alongside a parallel trade mission in aircraft manufacturing, airport development and sustainable energy.
A state visit is the most demanding photographic environment I work in. The schedule is fixed to the minute and set by protocol officers, not by the photographer. Positions are agreed in advance and you hold them. There is no second take of a head of state's arrival, and no moving to a better angle once a ceremony has begun. Everything depends on reading the room correctly before it happens.
The programme shifted register within hours. Bilateral meetings with Prime Minister António Costa and President Rebelo de Sousa: formal, tightly framed, flags behind, working light. The opening of a temporary exhibition at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, where I photographed the royal party viewing a Bosch triptych — subjects with their backs to the camera, the picture entirely a matter of timing. An official portrait on the Tagus waterfront under hard midday sun. The state banquet at the Palácio da Ajuda, shot in low ambient light where the room itself sets the exposure.
The most technically constrained element was the receiving line, where roughly two hundred invited guests were presented individually to the King and Queen in a small room. Each presentation lasts a few seconds. There is one usable frame per guest, the light is fixed, and the photographer cannot obstruct the flow — two hundred consecutive single-take portraits in a confined space, with no scope to reposition.
The images were published by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Portugal and used across official communications, credited Photo: Theo Solnik / Embassy of the Netherlands in Portugal.
What transfers from work like this to corporate production is the discipline it enforces: preparation done beforehand, decisions made in advance, and the ability to work invisibly in a room where your presence must not become part of the event. It is the same requirement as a board-level interview or an executive appearance, at a higher tolerance for error.
Event video production highlights in Lisbon: World Aviation Festival and WebSummit
For Polkadot I produced the highlight film of their participation at Web Summit, the technology conference held in Lisbon, working across the exhibition floor and stage areas in the compressed, unrepeatable conditions a live conference imposes. For the World Aviation Festival I produced the event highlight film — the fast-turnaround edit that captures the scale and energy of a multi-day event and has to be cut and delivered while the conference is still current. Both are the kind of work this page is really about: a single operator who can move through a busy venue, get clean footage and sound in difficult conditions, and turn it into something that looks considered rather than merely captured.
Filming logistics and production workflow in Lisbon
Permits: most corporate shoots — offices, hotels, private venues, conference centres — need no municipal authorisation. Public streets, municipal buildings and council-managed spaces do. Applications go to Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, either as a full licensing application for larger shoots or the lighter prior-communication route for small crews, with the Lisboa Film Commission acting as the coordinating desk. The city aims to decide within roughly three working days, though fee-exemption requests need lodging at least fifteen business days ahead. I build that lead time into the schedule.
Areas I work in regularly: Parque das Nações, Baixa and Chiado, Belém, Avenidas Novas, the airport corridor, and the main conference venues.
Equipment is mine: RED Komodo 6K, Blackmagic Pocket 4K, Sigma fp, Zeiss Standard Speed PL primes, DJI RS 3 Pro with LiDAR and Focus Pro, Zoom F3 recorder, Sennheiser and Sanken microphones. No rental surprises, no last-minute substitutions.
Deliverables and turnaround
Deliverables are prepared for the client's intended use: master files for internal distribution, compressed versions for web, shorter edits for social platforms.
Interview-based productions deliver a first cut within 24 to 48 hours of wrap. After your feedback the corrected final arrives within 24 hours. Conference and multi-day productions follow a schedule agreed in the quote. Final exports: ProRes masters, H.264 web versions, 9:16 social cutdowns, burned-in or sidecar subtitles on request.
Colour grading, sound mix and original music composition are handled in house.
Pricing
Every Lisbon project is quoted individually based on crew size, shoot days, deliverables and post-production scope. No hidden surcharges — insurance and contingency are itemised separately so you see what you're paying for. Payment terms are 50% on booking, 50% on delivery.
FAQ
Do you speak Portuguese and English on set?
Yes. English is my default working language for international clients, and I work in Portuguese as well as German, French, Spanish, Italian and Norwegian.
Can you handle Lisbon filming permits?
Yes. I coordinate with Câmara Municipal de Lisboa and the Lisboa Film Commission when a shoot requires authorisation. Most corporate interior shoots don't.
What's included in the day rate?
The day rate covers me as DP, the RED Komodo package, Zeiss primes, standard lighting and audio kit. Additional crew, specialised lighting and permits are quoted separately.
How fast can you deliver?
First cut within 24 to 48 hours of wrap for standard interview projects, corrected final within 24 hours of your feedback. Same-day or next-day event highlights are possible with advance planning.
Have you worked with government and diplomatic clients?
Yes. I was official photographer for the Dutch Royal Household during the State Visit to Portugal and documented Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg's trade mission for the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce.
Start your Lisbon project
Tell me what you need shot in Lisbon, when it's due and where it's happening. I read every enquiry myself and reply within one business day.
