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Ellen Kuras

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Ellen Kuras
Kuras in 2008
Born (1959-07-10) July 10, 1959 (age 65)
Cedar Grove, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma materBrown University
OccupationCinematographer
Years active1987–present

Ellen Kuras (born July 10, 1959) is an American cinematographer whose work includes narrative and documentary films, music videos and commercials in both the studio and independent worlds. One of few female members of the American Society of Cinematographers, she is a pioneer best known for her work in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). She has collaborated with directors such as Michel Gondry, Spike Lee, Sam Mendes, Jim Jarmusch, Rebecca Miller, Martin Scorsese and more. She is the three-time winner of the Award for Excellence in Dramatic Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival, for her films Personal Velocity: Three Portraits, Angela and Swoon, which was her first dramatic feature after getting her start in political documentaries.

In 2008, she released her directorial debut, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), which she co-directed, co-wrote, co-produced and shot. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2009. In 2010, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Non-Fiction Filmmaking for the film.

Early life and education

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Kuras grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.[1] Kuras had a fever as an infant, leaving her almost deaf in one ear and with about 20% hearing in the other.[2]

She attended Cedar Grove High School, where she served as president of the school's chapter of the National Honor Society.[3] After earning a double degree in anthropology and semiotics at Brown University, she studied photography at RISD and 8mm filmmaking in New York, with the plan to become a documentary filmmaker. In the early 1980s, Kuras planned to study on a Fulbright grant at a film school in Poland but was unable to go due to the introduction of martial law.[4] She is of Polish descent on her father's side and the family surname was originally Kuraś.[5]

Career

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Kuras began her film career in 1987, shooting Ellen Bruno's Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia, the first US movie filmed in Cambodia after the Vietnam War. In 1990 she won the Eastman Kodak Best Cinematography Focus Award for her work on Samsara.[citation needed] The film got notice from the Student Academy Awards[citation needed] and the Sundance Film Festival where it received Special Jury Recognition.[citation needed]

That same year, she was asked by producer Christine Vachon to shoot her first dramatic film (Swoon) for director Tom Kalin. The film won her the Sundance Award for Excellence in Cinematography in 1992.[citation needed] This was the start of work with Killer Films, which includes Postcards From America and I Shot Andy Warhol.[citation needed]

She worked for political documentaries, and, later, other genre of film and TV, such as big-budget movies (Blow, Analyze That), independent films (Angela, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), documentaries (Unzipped, 4 Little Girls), concert films (Lou Reed's Berlin, Shine a Light), successful TV movies (If These Walls Could Talk), commercials and music videos for musicians like Bjørk, The White Stripes.[citation needed]

In 1999,[6] she was invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers, the fifth female member to join more than 400 male peers.[citation needed]

She has received accolades, including the Women in Film Kodak Vision Award in 1999 and was honored at the 2006 Gotham Award for her entire body of work.[citation needed] In 2003 she was the first film technician to receive the NY Women In Film and TV Muse Award, traditionally is given to actresses.[citation needed] In 2009 she was a special Honoree at the Santa Fe Film Festival for her work in the field of cinematography.[citation needed]

She has served on the juries of several film festivals. In 1997 she was invited to be on the jury of the Sundance Film Festival. In 2013, she was a member of the jury at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.[7] In 2015 she was on the Jury of the Belgrade Film Festival and the Camerimage. She has guest-lectured at film schools and festival panels, including SVA, NYU, BU University of Texas at Austin, Walker Art Center, Hamptons International Film Festival, Camerimage, Berlinale and Woodstock Film Festival.[citation needed]

Filmography

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Cinematographer

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Fiction works

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Short film

Year Title Director Notes
1990 Traveling at Night Chris Kraus
1992 Nation Tom Kalin
1993 Geoffrey Beene 30
1996 The Dadshuttle Tom Donaghy Segment of Boys Life 2
1997 My Perfect Journey Andrew D. Cooke
2003 Renee Jim Jarmusch Segments of Coffee and Cigarettes
No Problem
2019 Blasphemy Melissa London Hilfers

Feature film

Year Title Director
1992 Swoon Tom Kalin
1993 Romance de Valentía Sonia Herman Dolz
1994 Post Cards from America Steve McLean
Roy Cohn/Jack Smith Jill Godmilow
1995 Angela Rebecca Miller
1996 I Shot Andy Warhol Mary Harron
1998 Just the Ticket Richard Wenk
1999 The Mod Squad Scott Silver
Summer of Sam Spike Lee
2000 Bamboozled
2001 Blow Ted Demme
2002 Personal Velocity: Three Portraits Rebecca Miller
Analyze That Harold Ramis
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Michel Gondry
2005 The Ballad of Jack and Rose Rebecca Miller
2008 Be Kind Rewind Michel Gondry
2009 Away We Go Sam Mendes
2014 A Little Chaos Alan Rickman

Television

Year Title Director Segment
1996 If These Walls Could Talk Nancy Savoca "1952"

Documentary works

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Short film
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Year Title Director
1989 Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia Ellen Bruno
1992 Guerrillas in Our Midst Amy Harrison
2003 Asylum Sandy McLeod
2013 Split Ellen Bruno
Film
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Year Title Director Notes
1995 Unzipped Douglas Keeve With Robert Leacock
The Women Outside: Korean Women and the U.S. Military Hye Jung Park
J.T. Takagi 		With Sandra Chandler, Herman Lew and Emiko Omori
1997 Poverty Outlaw Peter Kinoy
Pamela Yates 		With Carlos Aparicio, Frank Cardon Jr. and Mark Webber
Scratch the Surface Tara Fitzpatrick With Phil Abraham, Niels Alpert, Robert Bennett,
Sarah Cawley, Trish Govoni and Kyle Kibbe
4 Little Girls Spike Lee
2005 Dave Chappelle's Block Party Michel Gondry
2008 The Betrayal – Nerakhoon Herself
Thavisouk Phrasavath
2010 Public Speaking Martin Scorsese
2014 The 50 Year Argument Martin Scorsese
David Tedeschi 		With Lisa Rinzler
2016 Monster in the Mind Jean Carper
2017 Jane Brett Morgen
Trouble No More Jennifer Lebeau
2019 Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese With Howard Alk, Paul Goldsmith and David Myers
2022 Personality Crisis: One Night Only Martin Scorsese
David Tedeschi
2024 Beatles '64 David Tedeschi

Concert film

Year Title Director
2006 Neil Young: Heart of Gold Jonathan Demme
2007 Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse Julian Schnabel
2020 American Utopia Spike Lee
Television
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Year Title Director Notes
1995 American Cinema Alain Klarer Episode "Film in the Television Age"
2005 American Masters Martin Scorsese Segment No Direction Home
2009 POV Herself
Thavisouk Phrasavath 		Segment The Betrayal – Nerakhoon

Miniseries

Year Title Director Notes
1994 A Century of Women Chris Harty
Barbara Kopple
Judy Korin
Sylvia Morales
2017 Wormwood Errol Morris With Igor Martinovic
2021 Pretend It's a City Martin Scorsese
Pride Tom Kalin Episode "1950s: People Had Parties"

TV movies

Year Title Director
1991 Danger: Kids at Work Lyn Goldfarb
2001 A Huey P. Newton Story Spike Lee
2002 Jim Brown: All-American

Director

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Documentary film

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
2008 The Betrayal – Nerakhoon Yes Yes Yes Co-directed with Thavisouk Phrasavath

Feature film

TV series

Year Title Episode(s)
2016 Falling Water "The Well"
"No Task for the Timid"
2017 Ozark[8] "Nest Box"
"Kaleidoscope"
2018 Legion "Chapter 12"
2022 The Son "The Blue Light"
"Somebody Get a Shovel"
2019–2020 The Umbrella Academy "Man on the Moon"
"Number Five"
"A Light Supper"
"Öga for Öga"
2020 Brave New World "Soma Red"
2022 The Terminal List "Encoding"
2023 Extrapolations "2059 Part I: Face of God"

Miniseries

Year Title Episode(s)
2019 Catch-22[9] "Episode 2"
"Episode 3"
2022 Inventing Anna "Check Out Time"
"Dangerously Close"

TV movie

  • Play is Your Superpower (2023)

Awards and nominations

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Academy Awards

Year Category Title Result
2009 Best Documentary Feature Film The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
(With Thavisouk Phrasavath) 		Nominated

Primetime Emmy Awards

Year Category Title Result
1994 Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program A Century of Women Nominated
1998 4 Little Girls Nominated
2009 Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking The Betrayal – Nerakhoon Won
2018 Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program Jane Won
2021 Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork,
Video Control for a Special 		American Utopia Nominated

Sundance Film Festival

Year Category Title Result
1992 Cinematography Award: Dramatic Swoon Won
1995 Angela Won
2002 Personal Velocity: Three Portraits Won
2008 Grand Jury Prize: Documentary The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) Nominated

Independent Spirit Awards

Year Category Title Result
1992 Best Cinematography Swoon Nominated
2002 Personal Velocity: Three Portraits Nominated
2008 Best Documentary Feature The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) Nominated

Online Film Critics Society

Year Category Title Result
2005 Best Cinematography Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Nominated

References

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  1. ^ Hart, Hugh (March–April 2009). "The Silent Witness". Brown Alumni Magazine. Retrieved October 15, 2017. Her family life was happy enough while she was growing up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, from which she left for Brown in 1977.
  2. ^ "How Celebrated Cinematographer Ellen Kuras Finally Got a Chance to Direct a Politically Charged Drama with Kate Winslet-Starrer 'Lee'". 9 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Memos From Memorial High", Verona-Cedar Grove Times, June 17, 1976. Accessed February 1, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "The Memorial High School Chapter of the National Honor Society recently held its end of the school year meeting. Officers for the 1976-77 school year were elecged as follows: President, Ellen Kuras"
  4. ^ "5 Minutes with… Ellen Kuras". Little Black Book. October 29, 2014. Archived from the original on March 8, 2015.
  5. ^ "Ellen Kuras. Słynna operatorka filmowa ma polskie korzenie!" (in Polish). TVN (Polish TV channel). April 30, 2019.
  6. ^ "American Society of Cinematographers Celebrates Centennial with Eye Trained on Future". 30 May 2019.
  7. ^ "The International Jury 2013". Berlinale. 28 January 2013. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  8. ^ "How Celebrated Cinematographer Ellen Kuras Finally Got a Chance to Direct a Politically Charged Drama with Kate Winslet-Starrer 'Lee'". 9 September 2023.
  9. ^ "How Celebrated Cinematographer Ellen Kuras Finally Got a Chance to Direct a Politically Charged Drama with Kate Winslet-Starrer 'Lee'". 9 September 2023.
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