Arthur Couvat has a passion for street culture, skateboarding, hip hop, sports, and fashion, alongside a love for real-life documentary-style moving imagery, fast shots and a fresh, energetic and experimental style. The young director, who has just signed with Halal, spent two years at Wieden + Kenendy Amsterdam before
started as a freelance director, photographer and editor. He has worked on campaigns for Nike, Footlocker, adidas, Carhartt WIP, Polaroid, and Rimowa.
Couvat also founded skateboarding collective, Cinquième Terrasse, in high school with a group of friends, who are now all skateboard professionals. This community is where he learned his craft and finessed his basic skills. Couvat still photographs and films with them regularly. His cultural interest is also evident in his debut documentary, Grottaroli, a short, melancholic film about the last generation of Italian fishermen living off the Adriatic Coast, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2021.
“Arthur’s energy and vision is extraordinary, and his style is a wonderful mixture of classic techniques and inspired improvisation that reflects his commitment to his roots in skate culture,” stated Levi Rijper, executive producer, HALAL. “He brings with him a sense of playfulness and liberation – and a need to take risks that, when added together, make him a unique eye – but also a multifaceted one. We’re delighted that he has joined the HALAL family.”
Couvat added, “I can’t wait to get started because Halal really is different. It’s an amazing and inspiring company to be part of. There are no other production companies on this level in Amsterdam with such a range of international talent and global ambitions. The other thing I like about Halal is the very strong photography department. What I like to do best is capture a moment – by any means necessary, using all formats. That’s what gets me excited the most. Being really hands-on and creating effortlessly spontaneous moments.”
Couvat is also an accomplished stills photographer and an analogue disciple. For him, it’s always been film photography, never digital. “I never used a digital camera. I started out in film photography as a counterpoint to digital, which I used for all my skate films. And it stuck. I learned my craft by printing my own photographs,” he stated.
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