Letting It Rip with Dean Friske and Elias Ressegatti

Spring is in full swing, and with it comes exciting new energy - and what better way to celebrate than by expanding its line up of incredible directors? Let It Rip Pictures introduces two distinct yet equally brilliant creative minds to our roster: Dean Friske and Elias Ressegatti.

Are they complete opposites, or do they share a common creative thread? That’s for you to decide. But one thing is certain: their work speaks for itself.

Elias Ressegatti is a visionary filmmaker with a bold cinematic style, crafting emotionally charged narratives that linger long after the final frame. His work is a masterclass in atmosphere, depth, and visual storytelling.

On the other end of the spectrum, Dean Friske brings razor-sharp comedic timing and performance-driven humour to the screen. From McDonald’s to Hyundai, he’s mastered the art of delivering laughs with wit and precision.

Let It Rip Pictures couldn’t be more excited to have them on board. Check out their reels, and get ready for what’s next.

Dean Friske

Q> Is there a story you’d one day like to tell / direct?

Dean> A promiscuous organ thief loses his penis in a 'heist gone wrong'. When he’s wheeled into surgery, he’s told “we have a donor for you, but on one condition: the widow gets visitation rights”. Hilarity ensues.

Q> We absolutely love your humour - what is it that drew you to funny stories in the first place?

Dean> My parents moved a lot when I was growing up, so by the time I went to uni, I’d been to six different schools. As the new kid, if you didn’t want to be ostracised, dacked, or worse, punched in the face, you needed to be funny. Comedy is this universal language of the school playground. And what is life, but a big school playground?

Q> You're an Aussie, tell us something about your environment and what would you like people to know about it / reason to shoot there / are there really spiders all around?

Dean> Gees, where to start?

Spiders? Yes, spiders are everywhere but it’s rare to bump into the kind that kills you.
Why film here? It has everything. You can be on a beach at sunset looking over Sydney only 20 minutes from the CBD. Yep, it’s got everything Nature - from deserts, to rainforests to pristine white beaches. Architecture, both new and old. Amazing actors of all nationalities. The most incredible, hard working, quick and efficient crews. Especially the crews. But most people come for the coffee.

Check out Dean’s fun stuff for brave brands here.

Elias Ressegatti 

Q> Do you have a vivid memory of the feeling of knowing that directing is your calling? Did it maybe happen on a shoot? Tell us about it anyways!

Elias> I do not have a vivid memory of knowing that directing was my calling. My path to it was much more organic, more of a ‘I stumbled my way into it’ thing.

I wish I could say that I knew from an early age that it was my calling, but my path’s been more one of self-doubt and trying to find reasons to not call myself a director, as that is something one should ‘earn’. I’ve come to learn over the years that such a self-flagellating approach doesn’t help me in any way nor does it render anything I do more ‘pure’ by default.

I do it because I enjoy it, the people I collaborate with and I have something to add to the world that’s constructive and might add a pinch of value.

Q> ‘reduce to the max’

Elias> Reduce to the max: I think this is an approach of mine that might be partially inspired by a German-puritanical world view. In Wittgenstein’s ’Tractatus”, his first sentence - “The world is all that is the case” - basically says everything he attempts to prove over the next 100 or so pages. In my filmmaking, I’ve been trying to reduce things down to their core message, their core belief. I do think, however, that this was a young man’s approach, as I’ve come to embrace and enjoy kitsch and ornate frills over time quite a lot. So, maybe it’s just one of a few different approaches for me these days. I do enjoy a shot with lots of negative space and often find simple but powerful story structures to be much more rewarding as a viewer.

Q> Dialogue or ambient music?

Elias> Having sharpened my teeth as a PA and editor in Swiss commercials, the requirement for ads to be in at least three languages - German, French and Italian, sometimes even Rumantsch - always hindered dialog, as the lip-syncing would always look off due to the different structure of each language. So, my ’schooling’ was more of a ’show don’t tell approach’.

So, likely ambient music for me. Though I love a challenge and I love a compassionate dialog/monolog on screen and would love to do much more of it; the playing with language, intonation, double meaning, subtext, etc. is endlessly interesting and a field with so much depth to explore for the next however many decades of my filmmaking life.

Check out Elias’ reel over here.