Chris Menges

Christopher J. Menges BSC, ASC (born 15 September 1940) is an English cinematographer and film director.

He has won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for The Killing Fields (1984) and for The Mission (1986).

Early life Menges was born in Kington, Herefordshire in 1940, the son of the composer and conductor Herbert Menges. His paternal grandfather, George, was a German emigrant to the United Kingdom.

In 1983, Menges received his first BAFTA nomination for the film Local Hero, and only a year later won his first Academy Award for the film The Killing Fields about the genocide in Cambodia. He continued his work with helmer Roland Joffe, and Menges won his second Oscar in 1986 with the historical drama The Mission. He also shot a television play titled Made in Britain, in 1983.

In 1988, Menges made his directorial debut with A World Apart, a biopic based on the life of South African anti-apartheid activist Ruth First and Joe Slovo. This film was celebrated at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and won three major awards.

His second film as director, CrissCross, received critical acclaim, but was a box-office flop. In 1996 he moved back behind the camera to shoot the award-winning films The Boxer and Michael Collins. For the latter, he received his third Academy Award nomination in 1997.

Menges also made documentaries. In the early 1970s, he went to Burma with British film maker Adrian Cowell to shoot The Opium Warlords, a film about the drug trade. After the release of the documentary in 1974, the Burmese government was said to have put a price on their heads. Menges is mentioned in the book Conversations with Cinematographers by David A. Ellis, published by Scarecrow Press.

Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd credits Menges as an influence. 1987 The Mission 1997 Michael Collins 2009 The Reader

1984

Local Hero 1985 The Killing Fields 1987 The Mission 1997 Michael Collins 2009 The Reader British Academy Television Craft Awards 1978 Best Film Cameraman Playhouse

1987

The Mission 1997 Michael Collins 1998 The Boxer 2009 The Reader 2010 International Award

1984

The Killing Fields 1986 The Mission 1996 Michael Collins 2002 Dirty Pretty Things 2009 The Reader 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award British Independent Film Awards 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award

2005 Golden Frog The Three Burials ofMelquiades Estrada 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award

Palme d'Or

Grand Prix Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Chicago Film Critics Association 1997 Best Cinematography Michael Collins Chicago International Film Festival 1981 Best Documentary East 103rd Street European Film Awards 2002 Best Cinematographer Dirty Pretty Things Evening Standard British Film Awards 1984 Best Technical/Artistic Achievement

1989 Best International Film A World Apart 2006 Best Cinematography The Three Burials ofMelquiades Estrada

1984

The Killing Fields 1986 The Mission 1996 Michael Collins

Comfort and Joy The Killing Fields 1989 Best Director A World Apart 1996 Best Cinematography Michael Collins

1984

The Killing Fields 1986 The Mission 1989 Best Director A World Apart Raindance Film Festival 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award

Golden Shell

Special Jury Prize