With a background in action sports (freestyle skiing and competingin terrain park and halfpipe competitions in his youth), Jackson Tisi clearly has an affinity for the outdoors. Representedby Fela in North America and Armoury in the UK, and Nicholas Berglund everywhere else, Tisi has made waves withcampaigns for Cadillac, Spotify, and Jim Beam, alongside a Gold from the YDA,cementing his position as a commercial filmmaker to watch.

Here, he talks us through the items that have cemented his creativityover the years, from a vintage Contax camera to a cherished skateboard deckwith a slick backstory.

The Contax T2

This camera is special to me. 

I love the form factor and feel of it. 

I have a love/hate relationship with it since it is bound to jam nearlyonce every roll and half of the photos it takes are out of focus. 

It has no focus control and minimal settings. These limitations make ita very personal camera and not a professional one, in my opinion. 

I love to take this to set and on trips to capture memories, notphotographs. The often blurry but rich images this camera takes are reallycharming to me. 

Shooting on film with a point-and-shoot also forces the process to beefficient and not precious. 

I take a photo quickly and move on, waiting to see how it will developweeks from then. 

It allows me to be present in the moment while saving it for later.

The Prints

I bought these prints a few years ago. 

Each photo is from a different Magnum photographer, and each oneinspires me for different reasons. 

I also love the scale. 

They are relatively small photos but all hang well as a series togetherand stand out in the negative space. 

It’s important for me to surround myself with physical works of art thatinspire me.

The Books

I am a collector of a few things. 

One aspect of collecting for me comes from photography and artbooks. 

This is a sample of the collection and each book inspires me for onereason or another. 

Each of these books represents a time or event in my life. 

Whenever something special or eventful happens, I tend to celebrate bybuying a book. 

My favourite bookstore in the world is Dashwood in New York City.

The Comics

I’ve been obsessed with comics since I was a child. 

Watchmen is one of the greatest books ever and is one of the things thatinspired me to want to tell stories. 

I’ve always been super into anything Batman as well. 

As a filmmaker, it is a joy to immerse myself in these expansive anddetailed visual worlds. 

The art inspires storyboarding and cinematography and the writinginspires my storytelling. 

I read lots of regular books too, but graphic novels have a specialplace in my heart. 

An artist with whom I think all filmmakers should become familiar isMoebius (Jean Giraud). 

I have a bunch of his books and his art style is trulyunbelievable. 

I revisit his work frequently.

The Outdoor Chess

I love where I live. 

I am surrounded by different citrus trees. 

My girlfriend and I have fallen into a routine of playing chess outsidenext to our lime tree in the evenings.

It’s become one of my favourite things to do.

The Skateboard

I try to collect small objects or props from shoots that are verymeaningful. 

I have a shelf in my office with a bunch of these various objects onit. 

They each represent a different and unique memory for me and create achronology of my journey as a director.

One of my most treasured souvenirs from set is this skateboard deck froma shoot I was doing. 

I shot a short film called Good Medicine out on theWind River Reservation and at the Riverton skatepark in Wyoming. 

The film was about how gifted the native youth are at skateboarding andhow they walk in two worlds, balancing a rich and vibrant heritage with being amodern skater. 

The kids we were working with surprised me on the last day of shootingby giving me a blank deck that they all signed. 

It is one of the most moving and profound memories I have of a film set,and I am deeply grateful for the trust of their community.

The Dog

This is Major. 

He is my favourite thing. 

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