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CINEMATOGRAPHER · BORN 1940 · UNITED KINGDOM

Chris Menges

Documentary-trained naturalism in natural light.

Born
1940
Country
United Kingdom
Field
Cinematographer

KNOWN FOR

  1. 1984The Killing Fields
  2. 1986The Mission
  3. 1983Local Hero

WHY THEY MATTER

Won Academy Awards for The Killing Fields and The Mission; three Academy Award nominations in all.

THE LIFE

Menges was born in Kington, Herefordshire, the son of the composer Herbert Menges, and learned filmmaking as assistant to the documentarian Alan Forbes. He began in the 1960s as a camera operator on documentaries by Adrian Cowell and also worked on second-unit photography for The Empire Strikes Back. With Roland Joffe he won Academy Awards for The Killing Fields and The Mission. He also directed films, including A World Apart, celebrated at Cannes in 1988.

Source: Wikipedia

Also born in 1930–1959

Vilmos Zsigmond

1930–2016 · United States · Cinematographer

Vilmos Zsigmond

Pre-flashed, muted colour and atmospheric haze.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977Source: Wikipedia

1931–2014 · United States · Cinematographer

Gordon Willis

Top light and deep underexposure that earned him the name the Prince of Darkness.

The Godfather, 1972Source: Wikipedia

1934–2001 · United States · Cinematographer

John A. Alonzo

Naturalistic, cinema verite-inspired photography of the New Hollywood.

Chinatown, 1974Source: Wikipedia