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Women in Film: A New Video Celebrates Female Cinematographers

By  · Published on March 13th, 2017

A comprehensive and elegant appreciation.

When it comes to glory, cinematographers are pretty far down the Hollywood food chain. Sure, you and I know of plenty, but ask the average filmgoer to name just one and most times they can’t even come up with such obvious names as Roger Deakins or Emmanuel Lubezki. This is especially true of female cinematographers, who are so underrepresented in the field even folks who can rattle off other DOP names struggles to come up with more than a few. Allow me, then:

Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Rachel Morrison (Fruitvale Station), Reed Morano (Frozen River), Caroline Champetir (Holy Motors), Mandy Walker (Hidden Figures), Natasha Braier (The Neon Demon), Mayse Alberti (The Wrestler), Jeanne Lapoirie (8 Women), and Charlotte Bruus Christensen (The Hunt) are just eight women currently doing outstanding work in the field, but despite this impressive list, as of 2015 female cinematographers had shot just 6% of the year’s films, and as of today a woman has never been nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar.

All of this is exactly why we need more videos like the following from Luiza Liz in which she has gathered the work of women DOPs and edited them into an elegant appreciation. The list I provided above is truly just the tip of the iceberg, as Liz demonstrates by the sheer number of clips she’s arranged in this seven-and-a-half-minute video. A link to the full list is provided below the embed; consider it your to-watch list.

Films Used.

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Novelist, Screenwriter, Video Essayist