Ellen Kuras Biography
Ellen Kuras (born July 10, 1959) is an American cinematographer whose work includes narrative and do*entary 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 do*entaries.
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 Do*entary 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
Kuras grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. Kuras had a fever as an infant, leaving her almost deaf in one ear and with about 20% hearing in the other.
She attended Cedar Grove High School, where she served as president of the school's chapter of the National Honor Society. 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 do*entary 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. She is of Polish descent on her father's side and the family surname was originally Kuraś.
Career
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. The film got notice from the Student Academy Awards and the Sundance Film Festival where it received Special Jury Recognition.
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. This was the start of work with Killer Films, which includes Postcards From America and I Shot Andy Warhol.
She worked for political do*entaries, and, later, other genre of film and TV, such as big-budget movies (Blow, *yze That), independent films (Angela, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), do*entaries (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.
In 1999, she was invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers, the fifth female member to join more than 400 male peers.
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. In 2003 she was the first film technician to receive the NY Women In Film and TV Muse Award, traditionally is given to actresses. In 2009 she was a special Honoree at the Santa Fe Film Festival for her work in the field of cinematography.
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. 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.
Filmography
Cinematographer
Film
Do*entary works
Director
Do*entary film
- The Betrayal – Nerakhoon (2008) (with Thavisouk Phrasavath)
Feature film
- Lee (2023)
Television
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
Primetime Emmy Awards
Sundance Film Festival
Independent Spirit Awards
Online Film Critics Society
References
External links
- https://variety.com/t/ellen-kuras/
- Ellen Kuras at IMDb
