I live to capture moments. 

Michael Cooke is a New York and Atlanta–based director and cinematographer working across narrative film and commercial storytelling. His work blends cinematic restraint with performance-driven tension, often exploring identity, power, memory, and the quiet fractures that shape human relationships.

Cooke began his career as a Director of Photography in 2007, lensing music videos and branded content before transitioning into directing campaigns for global brands including Apple, American Express, Toyota, and Walmart. His early narrative work, including the African Movie Academy Award–winning short Across the Tracks, established his voice as a filmmaker drawn to culturally grounded and character-centered stories.

He is currently in post-production on his debut feature film, Forget Me Not, a Brooklyn-set magical realism romance about two young lovers who attempt to erase each other from memory only to discover that forgetting may come at a greater cost than heartbreak. The film continues Cooke’s exploration of intimacy, consequence, and emotional accountability within heightened worlds grounded in lived experience.

Whether directing or shooting, Cooke approaches each project with a disciplined visual language rooted in tone, control, and emotional clarity.