Docs face up to dramatic times
The era of Trump and Brexit is proving a fertile one for documentary makers to explore. Televisual Factual Festival producer Pippa Considine surveys the fast-changing documentary landscape
British talent behind the lens remains in high regard in the world of features, with home grown cinematographers working on some of the stand out titles of recent years: from Bladerunner 2049 to American Honey and Dr Strange.
A consistent name in our top 10 list of British film DPs is Barry Ackroyd. President of the British Society of Cinematographers, he is well known for his work with directors such as Paul Greengrass (Jason Bourne) and Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker). He has just collaborated again with Bigelow on 1967-set police thriller Detroit.
Danny Cohen, meanwhile, continues to make films with some of Britain’s top directors, like Shane Meadows and Tom Hooper. Recently, Cohen shot Florence Foster Jenkins with Stephen Frears. His latest film is Final Portrait, directed by Stanley Tucci.
Rob Hardy solidified his reputation with Alex Garland’s stylish Ex Machina. More recently, he’s completed principle photography on Euphoria, produced by and staring Alicia Vikander. He has also shot Garland’s follow up to Ex Machina, the sci-fi horror Annihilation. Hardy is in pre production on the next Mission Impossible film.
Consistently in demand, Anthony Dod Mantle has added to his impressive CV over the past year with Our Kind of Traitor, and Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting sequel. He’s just shot Angelina Jolie directed First They Killed My Father for Netflix, and is in pre-production on Thomas Vinterberg’s submarine drama Kursk.
Veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins’ latest film is one of the most anticipated of the year, Bladerunner 2049. His recent credits include Unbroken, for which he received an Oscar nomination.
Cinematographer Ben Davis has been behind the camera on box office hits Doctor Strange, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s recently reunited with director Martin McDonagh for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. His next film is Tim Burton’s adaptation of Dumbo, starring Colin Farrell and Eva Green.
John Mathieson shot Guy Ritchie’s latest, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword having worked with him on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. He is perhaps best known for his cinematography on Gladiator.
Seamus McGarvey won Bafta nods for two of his most recent projects: Nocturnal Animals and Black Mirror (on the Nosedive episode). Coming up is The Greatest Showman, a biopic of P.T. Barnum. He’s now in pre-production on Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.
Robbie Ryan has lensed some of the most high profile British indie films of recent years, including American Honey, and I, Daniel Blake. His next will be seen this month in Competition at Cannes; he was the cinematographer on American indie darling Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories.
Jess Hall’s most recent project was the sleek Ghost in the Shell, directed by Rupert Sanders. He has also worked with Oscar winning cinematographer turned director Wally Pfister on the technological thriller Transcendence starring Johnny Depp.
Top 10 cinematographers
Barry Ackroyd CreditsDetroit, Jason Bourne, The Big Short, The Last Face, Captain Phillips, The Hurt Locker, United ‘93
Danny Cohen
CreditsFinal Portrait, Florence Foster Jenkins, Room, The Danish Girl, Les Miserables, The King’s Speech
Ben Davis
Credits Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Doctor Strange, Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Roger Deakins
CreditsBladerunner 2049, Sicario, Hail, Caesar!, Unbroken, Skyfall
Anthony Dod Mantle
CreditsFirst They Killed My Father, T2: Trainspotting, Snowden
Jess Hall
CreditsGhost in the Shell, Trancendence, Brideshead Revisited, Hot Fuzz
Rob Hardy
Credits Annihilation, Ex Machina, Testament Of Youth, The Invisible Woman
John Mathieson
CreditsLogan, Knights Of The Round Table: King Arthur, Pan, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, X Men: First Class
Seamus McGarvey
CreditsBlack Mirror, Noctural Animals, The Accountant, Life, Pan, Enigma, Anna Karenina
Robbie Ryan
CreditsThe Meyerowitz Stories, American Honey, Philomena
British talent behind the lens remains in high regard in the world of features, with home grown cinematographers working on some of the stand out titles of recent years: from Bladerunner 2049 to American Honey and Dr Strange. 