Ellen Kuras
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“We Needed to Steer the Film to a Place Where It Wasn’t a Biopic”: Cinematographer Turned Director Ellen Kuras on Her Kate Winslet-Starring Lee
For years filmmakers have tried to tell Lee Miller’s story. Famous first as a model for artists like Man Ray, then as a fashion photographer, Miller became a war correspondent during World War II. She captured some of the most iconic images of her time, from views of Hitler’s life to the horrors of concentration camps. For her feature debut as a director, Ellen Kuras was determined not to fall into standard biopic conventions. Starting from a book of Miller’s photographs, she collaborated with star and producer Kate Winslet and writers Marian Hume, Liz Hannah, and John Collee to find […]
by Daniel Eagan on Sep 28, 2024 -
“I Wasn’t Interested in Just Shooting Empty Streets…”: Ellen Kuras on Action, Change and Democracy in Crisis
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor After working in Europe and Canada for seven months, I was in New York in the middle of directing an episode on a Netflix series called Inventing Anna. We had shot […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jul 8, 2020 -
CAMERA READY: FOUR CINEMATOGRAPHERS ON THEIR CRAFT
Originally published in our Spring 2008 issue, top flight DPs Andrij Parekh, Tim Orr, Sean Kirby and Ellen Kuras give candid insights on the formats they shoot on. Here Parekh (pictured above) talks about how shooting on video at times doesn’t speed up a shooting day: How will your format choice affect the physical production in terms of making it easier or, depending on your choice, more challenging? Are there budgetary ramifications? I find that shooting video actually takes more time, not less, than shooting on film. One has to be extremely particular regarding lighting. The main problem is that what […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Nov 6, 2011 -
Week Six at the Edit Center
On Monday we watch the famous f*ck scene from The Wire. In the past I have seen this scene used as an example of great writing, great directing and great acting. It seems to be a quintessential teaching scene. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you can see it below. We also watch a sequence from Unzipped, the documentary that follows the fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi (1995, edited by Alan Oxman, cinematography by Ellen Kuras, who went on to shoot a long list of films including Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless mind). Its lyrical look, pacing and […]
by Alix Lambert on Oct 24, 2011 -
Director Ellen Kuras on The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 24, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Nick Dawson interviewed The Betrayal director Ellen Kuras for our Director Interviews section of the Website. The Betrayal is nominated for Best Documentary. THAVISOUK PHRASAVATH AND ORADY PHRASAVATH IN DIRECTOR ELLEN KURAS’ THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON). COURTESY CINEMA GUILD. Since she first came to prominence almost twenty years ago, Ellen Kuras has established herself as one of the most talented directors of photography working today. Film was not Kuras’ primary focus when […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2009 -
Ellen Kuras, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
THAVISOUK PHRASAVATH AND ORADY PHRASAVATH IN DIRECTOR ELLEN KURAS’ THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON). COURTESY CINEMA GUILD. Since she first came to prominence almost twenty years ago, Ellen Kuras has established herself as one of the most talented directors of photography working today. Film was not Kuras’ primary focus when she was younger; the New Jersey native initially attended Brown to study anthropology but became interested in photography after taking a class at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design. Though she won a Fulbright Scholarship to go to the esteemed Lodz Film Academy, Kuras instead began working in film, taking numerous […]
by Nick Dawson on Nov 21, 2008 -
On the Move
Gotham Awards Tribute recipient Ellen Kuras takes us into the fast-paced life of an in-demand DP. Ellen Kuras operates like a perpetual-motion machine. One moment she’s photographing Michel Gondry’s latest feature. The next, shooting The Rolling Stones for Martin Scorsese. There are meetings with Lou Reed about an upcoming concert project. Also, a long-gestating documentary she’s been directing at every opportunity. And in between all of that, she found time to replace her old car that just died and pick up her new tailless cat from the vet. ELLEN KURAS. There are, of course, rewards to such endeavors. Like being […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Nov 27, 2006
