Filmmakers in Conversation: Ellen Kuras

“When I was a kid, someone asked what I wanted to be, and I realized that I had always dreamed of working with my hands, of wanting to shape something textural, luminous.”—Ellen Kuras, International Cinematographer’s Guild interview

The Walker hosts an evening of conversation with cinematographer/filmmaker Ellen Kuras and screens some of her most groundbreaking work. Called by Filmmaker magazine ”one of the most talented directors of photography working today,” Kuras’ impressive body of work ranges from documentaries to features, straddles the commercial and independent film worlds, and is shot on formats from mini-DV video to 35mm film. She has been the ongoing director of photography for many celebrated directors, including Martin Scorsese, Michel Gondry, and Spike Lee.

Kuras was the recipient of a Gotham Award and the Kodak VISION Award for her career. She has won a record three Sundance Film Festival cinematography awards for Swoon (1992), Angela (1995), and Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (2002). With the 2008 release of the lauded documentary The Betrayal, she has entered the directorial realm.