Pep Bonet

Pep Bonet (Mallorca, 1974) is a co-founder of NOOR images and a Nikon Europe ambassador. Pep is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer who has traveled extensively capturing profound moments that represent the unbalanced world in which we live. His longer-term projects focus on African issues, with his most well-known project being “Faith in Chaos”, a photo essay on the aftermath of the war in Sierra Leone. Pep’s ongoing work around the globe on HIV/Aids and identity has led to several photography books and many exhibitions worldwide.

He is also known for a long-term reportage on the rock ‘n roll band Motörhead. Pep spent many years (2008-2015) on the road with Lemmy Kilmister, the legendary singer of the band, and created an exceptional visual document of the many hours spent on the road with Motörhead.

Pep crafted himself into shooting documentaries. This resulted in several short and long documentary films, amongst which the award-winning ‘Into the Shadows’, a pursuit into the lives of hundreds of thousands of Africans living in the inner city of Johannesburg. Pep’s work has been recognized with many industry awards. It started in 2002 when he was selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass with his work “Faith in Chaos”. That same year he was nominated “one of the top 30 to watch” by Photo District News. Pep won the Kodak Young Photographer of the Year in 2003 at the festival Visa pour L`image, and the Luchetta Foundation in Trieste awarded him the best press photographer of the year in 2004. He was a recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Humanistic Grant in Photography in 2005 and in 2007 won the second prize in the World Press Photo contest in the Sports category for his work on the amputees’ football league in Sierra Leone. In 2009 Pep won a second World Press Photo Award for his work “Forced Identity”, portraying the lives of transsexuals in Honduras. In 2013, Pep won his third World Press Photo Award-winning in the category Multimedia for Into the Shadows. In 2015 Pep has been the recipient of the Horbach Award. His list of publications includes “Generacion Perdida” (2010),  “Remarkable South Africans”(2009), “Photobolsillo”, a new Photobolsillo from La Fabrica with a collection of Spanish photographers, “One Goal” (2007) and “Somalia: The Invisible Trace” (2007), “Quadern de Bitacola”, a text book written by Carles Domenec and POSITHIV+ (2005), Watching in Silence (2011), 17 milagroso (2009), 217A; a NOOR book (2008), We the people of Wacken (2014) UDR, Röadkill, Motörhead (2013)…

Pep is a photographer, a filmmaker, and a DOP, he works on personal projects, mostly directing documentary films, and on assignments for clients and NGO’s. He frequently lectures on photography/multimedia/film and conducts workshops.

PUBLICATIONS:
National Geographic, New Yorker, Newsweek, New York Times, US News and World Report, The Times (UK), MSF (Medecins sans Frontieres), Corriere della Sera, El Pais, EPS (El Pais Semanal), PF(Magazine), Man, Brisas, Ultima Hora, PDN, El Mundo, El Periódico, El Dominical, Profifoto, American Photo, Zoom, Foto-noticiario, Fotografia, Metro, City, Credits, Arte, Fotografia reflex, Transversal, IO Donna, Il Fotografo, Goteborgs Posten, Photo Italia, Digital Photographer, El Mundo, El Periodico, La Vanguardia, NRC Handelsblad & M Magazine, Trouw, de Volkskrant, Het Parool, Onze Wereld, IS (Internationale Samenwerking), Algemeen Dagblad, Vrij Nederland, News Settimanale, Internazionale, Le Soir, De Morgen, The Globe and Mail, Esquire (Russia), Days (Japan), Verdensmagasinet, C Magazine, Private, Specchio (La Stampa), Courrier International, Le Nouvel Observateur, Elsevier, Independent, World Economic Forum, Minority Rights Group, Open Society Institute, British Medical Journal, Harper's & Queen, Esquire Russia, Impactaids, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Life, Politiken, …

NGO´S & FOUNDATIONS:
ICC (International Criminal Court), FAO, UNFPA, UNHCR, Soros Foundation, MSF, Save the children, War Child, Gift of the Givers, Millicom Foundation, Lexis Nexis, NOOR, Thalita Kum, Positive Lives.

FILMOGRAPHY:
"Hellbangers" Documentary film on Botswana´s undergroung Heavy Metal secene. 2020
"Lüderitz Speed" 25 short films on Speed Windsurfing in Namibia. 2019 / 2020
"Meero Education films" Kadir van Lohuizen, Jon Lowenstein, Sanne de Wilde, Sebas Liste. 2020
“Into the Shadows” Documentary film on migrants, South Africa. 52, 75 and 5 min versions. 2013
“Forced” Child labor and exploitation , Bangladesh. 26 min. 2013
“I’m not for sale” Documentary film on Human Trafficking. 14 min. 2017
“Rise Up” Documentary film on Human Trafficking. 24 min. 2017
"Fortunes Gift" 14 Positive stories of refugees / Denmark. 28 min. 2016
“Girlztalk” Documentary film on South African voices of young women. 25 min. 2014
“Right to Identity” Documentary film on birth registration. Tanzania. 13 min. 2015
“Suffering in Silence”, Obstetric fistula in Asia. Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan. 13 min . 2015
“Motherland”, Another Crimea. 20 min Documentary film. 2014
“The most beautiful hell I know”, Child mortality in Chad. 26 min. 2017
"Guyane, the invisible border" 2017. 52 min Upfront production.
"Kenya, the internal border" 2018. 52 min Upfront production.
"Family planning" Bolivia and Papua New Guinea for UNFPA. 2018
"Out of Plastic" plastics in the Mediterranean (as DOP) 52 min. 2018
“Ponerse al día”, short fiction film. 14 mim. 2014
“Fel de la terra” Documentary film on the lives of 7 Majorcan. Mallorca, Spain. 80 min. 2017
"3 Wise Monkeys", short fiction film (as DOP). Spain. 12 min. 2015
"Lucía, del verbo lucir" short fiction film (as DOP). Spain. 13 min. 2016
“When the sky comes looking for you” Motörhead Official videoclip. 2016
“Heroes” (David Bowie cover) Motörhead Official videoclip. 2018
“Libre” Taifa Official videoclip. 2016
"Acústico Embrujado".  Taifa Official videoclip. 25 minutes . 2016
“Transparaiso” Transgender in Chile. (work in Progress) 2014
“Afronauts” Zambian quest for space. (work in Progress) 2014

Pep lives in Mallorca.
Picture by © Stanley Greene