1940-09-15 Kington, Herefordshire, England, UK
As an Academy Award-winning cinematographer who made the successful segue to directing features, Chris Menges has carved out a successful, but understated career. Menges got his start as an assistant editor and camera operator and even worked as a sound recordist several times, before working his way up to director of photography. Menges had his first real break as a documentary cameraperson and editor in the 1960s and 1970s, traveling wherever there was war and insurrection - Burma, Angola, Vietnam and Tibet - while working with filmmaker Adrian Cowell. Once he made the permanent jump to feature films in the 1980s, Menges developed a style as a cinematographer that never overwhelmed audiences with gaudy colors or outlandish camera moves In fact, Menges understood the oft-accepted theory that color could be less realistic than black and white, because it focused the audience away from emotion to an object. Menges' work was defined by a low-key naturalism, plain composition, and a mix of lenses to tug at the audience at the appropriate moments, which helped him craft memorable images in several award-winning films, including "The Killing Fields" (1984), "Michael Collins" (1996) and "The Reader" (2008). IMDb mini bio by yusufpiskin
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Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach | Self - Cinematographer | 2016-06-30 |
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Max Von Sydow: Dialogues with The Renter | Self | 2012-03-27 |
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Making Kes | Self | 2010-09-01 |
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Shooting from the Heart: Chris Menges, Cameraman | Self | 1985-12-31 |
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The South Bank Show: 'Local Hero' | Self | 1983-02-27 |
