Spotlight: Ellen Kuras, ASC (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) on the Art and Craft of Cinematography | Presented by Sony
About this Spotlight
Spotlight Events feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative processes. Check out some of our inspiring chats with Patty Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Brit Marling, Jason Blum and more.
A pioneer behind the camera since the 1990s, cinematographer Ellen Kuras, ASC has collaborated with some of the greatest storytellers of our time including Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Sam Mendes, and Michel Gondry. In this conversation, Kuras walks us through her legendary career and artistic process as a visual storyteller, discussing how intention and point of view are the core principles of cinematography. Then, by viewing scenes from Kuras's work, she reveals specific techniques that she uses to bring the director’s vision to life. This conversation touch on camera choice, color, composition, lighting, framing, lenses, and camera movement to leave you with tools you can employ to bring deeper meaning to each frame in your next film.
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Ellen Kuras
Advisor
Academy Award-nominee, two-time Emmy winner Ellen Kuras is an American director/cinematographer whose eclectic, visionary body of work includes narrative and documentary films, music films and commercials in both the studio and independent worlds. One of the few female members of the American Society of Cinematographers, she is a pioneer best known for her work on ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004), and BLOW (2001). She is the unprecedented three-time winner of the Excellence Award for Best Dramatic Cinematography at Sundance and has been nominated for numerous Emmys and Independent Spirit Awards.
She has collaborated with directors such as Michael Gondry, Spike Lee, Sam Mendes, Jonathan Demme, Jim Jarmusch, Rebecca Miller, Martin Scorsese, and more.
On her directorial debut, THE BETRAYAL/NERAKHOON (2008), she was nominated for an Academy Award, a Spirit Award, and won the Primetime Emmy. She went on to direct commercials for Apple, Coke, Delta and began directing television when she joined Martin Scorsese to direct second unit on VINYL and Steve Zaillian on THE NIGHT OF. Jason Bateman asked her to direct two episodes on the first season of OZARK for Netflix, which she then followed with directing two episodes on THE SON, LEGION, and two seasons of UMBRELLA ACADEMY also for Netflix. In 2018, she was invited by George Clooney to direct two of the six episodes on The Anonymous/Paramount limited series CATCH 22. She just finished directing a Shondaland Netflix series about Anna Delvey which stars Julia Gardner.
Ellen still finds time to work with longtime colleagues on passion projects. This past year she and Martin Scorsese got together to make PRETEND IT’S A CITY with Fran Lebowitz, and partnering with Spike Lee and David Byrne, she filmed the Broadway play AMERICAN UTOPIA.