Aaron Frederick Leal-Davies
first cameraman/associate producer
Aaron was born three days late, and backwards on a rather overcast chilly fall day in November of 1975. He grew up idolizing both George Harrison, and Lon Chaney sr. until his attending of Ithaca College˙s artistically focused Film program. There he found new people to idolize on the cutting edge of the film world who nobody˙s really heard about, and Aaron˙s exhortations on those film maker˙s virtues only served to make him seem snobbish to his less enlightened acquaintances. Aaron soon grew away from the trappings of his collegiate arrogance, and began to see the good attributes offered by a more conventional form of cinema. That was also about the time he started working professionally in the field.

He started as a PA in Los Angeles for the film: Baggage and was tapped by the director to write a musical arrangement for the song Happy Days Are Here Again for Piano. After that, Aaron was adopted by the Grips on Baggage and learned how to rig and light.

Moving to New York City in 1999, Aaron worked for awhile as a Dolly Grip and Key Grip on a few Indie Films and then found his way into Post Production, getting a few gigs at Nevessa Studios and Cyclops Pictures and Sound. There Aaron Learned Pro Tools, Avid Film & Media Composer, Media 100 and a multitude of other studio tools such as Mixers, microphones, compressors and general computer maintenance.

Aaron Still worked on sets through Nevessa whose two Mobile recording trucks recorded Cici Wyeinan˙s PBS special, The Clearwater Music Festival, NRBQ˙s 30th Anniversary Concert (a portion of which was shown on The Simpson˙ s). He also worked as a cameraman for Nevessa˙s Video unit for Molley Zenobia ˙s concert at Bard College.

Aaron also did set sound for a handful of features and shorts in and around New York City for the next few years. But it was at Cyclops where Aaron first met James Ronald Whitney while he was making Just Melvin. Aaron was in awe with Melvin, thinking that it was the best documentary ever made in the history of the world, and enjoyed working with the director.

Aaron spent the next year doing set sound as well as Post Production at Cyclops when he started to work as an Assistant Editor for Gary Levey on the film Face. Aaron finished that job a few weeks before September 2001.

Coming down from the high of working as an Assistant Editor, Aaron decided to plan something special for his future wife˙s birthday. Her Birthday was the 11th of September. Instead of dinner and presents, Aaron, and his future wife Raquel, spent the day in fear and wet with tears.

On a chance meeting a few days later, Aaron ran into James Whitney out of the blue who changed his life. While waiting on line to volunteer to help the rescue effort, he ran into Whitney in the midst of shooting a documentary. He asked if Aaron wanted to shoot his movie. Aaron said yes. As fate declared, Aaron went on to take an emotional journey unlike anything else he˙s experienced in his entire life (except possibly marriage). That film is Telling Nicholas.

Aaron still works in Post Production, as an Editor and Sound Engineer and looks forward to seeing Nicholas grow up, happy and healthy, as his mother would have wanted.