Ellen Kuras

Ellen Kuras (born July 10, 1959) is an American cinematographer, known for documentary and narrative film, as well as music videos and commercials, both from studio and independent media.

In 2008, she released her directorial debut, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Early life and education Kuras grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. She had a fever as an infant, leaving her almost deaf in one ear and with about 20% 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 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. 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 documentaries, and, later, other genre of film and TV, such as big-budget movies, independent films, documentary films, concert films, successful TV movies, 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 Fiction works Short film Year Title Director Notes 1990 Traveling at Night Chris Kraus 1992 NationTom Kalin 1993 Geoffrey Beene 30 1996 The Dadshuttle Tom Donaghy Segment of Boys Life 2 1997 My Perfect Journey Andrew D. Cooke2003 ReneeJim JarmuschSegments of Coffee and Cigarettes No Problem 2019 Blasphemy Melissa London Hilfers

Feature film

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

Documentary works Short film 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 Year Title Director Notes1995 Unzipped Douglas Keeve With Robert Leacock The Women Outside:Korean Women and the U.S. Military Hye Jung ParkJ.T. Takagi With Sandra Chandler, Herman Lew and Emiko Omori1997 Poverty Outlaw Peter KinoyPamela 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 HerselfThavisouk Phrasavath 2010 Public Speaking Martin Scorsese 2014 The 50 Year Argument Martin ScorseseDavid Tedeschi With Lisa Rinzler 2016 Monster in the Mind Jean Carper2017 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 ScorseseDavid Tedeschi 2024 Beatles '64 David Tedeschi 2026 Aldeas-A New Story Martin ScorseseJohnny ShipleyClare Tavernor With Salvatore Totino

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 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 HerselfThavisouk Phrasavath Segment The Betrayal – Nerakhoon

Miniseries Year Title Director Notes 1994 A Century of Women Chris HartyBarbara KoppleJudy KorinSylvia Morales 2017 Wormwood Errol Morris With Igor Martinovic2021 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 StorySpike Lee 2002 Jim Brown: All-American

Director Documentary film Year Title Director Writer Producer Note 2008 The Betrayal – Nerakhoon Co-directed with Thavisouk Phrasavath

Feature film Lee (2023)

TV series

Miniseries

TV movie Play is Your Superpower (2023)

Awards and nominations Academy Awards Year Category Title Result 2009 Best Documentary Feature Film The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)(With Thavisouk Phrasavath)

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

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

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

Online Film Critics Society Year Category Title Result 2005 Best Cinematography Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind