Ellen Kuras facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ellen Kuras
Kuras in 2008
Born	(1959-07-10) July 10, 1959 (age 66) Cedar Grove, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater	Brown University
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	1987–present

Ellen Kuras (born July 10, 1959) is a talented American cinematographer. A cinematographer is the person in charge of how a movie looks. They decide on the lighting, camera angles, and how each shot is filmed. Ellen Kuras has worked on many different types of projects. These include movies, documentaries, music videos, and TV commercials. She has worked for both big studios and independent filmmakers.

Ellen Kuras is one of the few women who are members of the American Society of Cinematographers. This group is for top professionals in her field. She is famous for her work on the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). She has worked with well-known directors like Michel Gondry and Spike Lee. She has won the Award for Excellence in Dramatic Cinematography three times. These awards were given at the Sundance Film Festival. She won for her films Personal Velocity: Three Portraits, Angela, and Swoon. Swoon was her first major movie after starting her career with political documentaries.

In 2008, Ellen Kuras also directed a film called The Betrayal (Nerakhoon). She helped direct, write, produce, and film it. This movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2009. In 2010, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her excellent work on this film.

Early Life and Education

Ellen Kuras grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. When she was a baby, she had a fever. This left her almost deaf in one ear. She also had only about 20% hearing in her other ear.

She went to Cedar Grove High School. There, she was president of the National Honor Society. After high school, she studied at Brown University. She earned two degrees, one in anthropology and one in semiotics. Later, she studied photography at RISD. She also learned 8mm filmmaking in New York. Her goal was to become a documentary filmmaker. In the early 1980s, she planned to study film in Poland. However, she could not go because of martial law in the country. Ellen Kuras has Polish family roots on her father's side. Her family's original last name was Kuraś.

Ellen Kuras's Career Highlights

Ellen Kuras started her film career in 1987. Her first project was filming Ellen Bruno's Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia. This was the first American movie filmed in Cambodia after the Vietnam War. In 1990, she won the Eastman Kodak Best Cinematography Focus Award for her work on Samsara. The film also received special recognition at the Student Academy Awards and the Sundance Film Festival.

In the same year, producer Christine Vachon asked her to film her first dramatic movie. This film was Swoon, directed by Tom Kalin. For Swoon, Ellen Kuras won the Sundance Award for Excellence in Cinematography in 1992. This marked the beginning of her work with Killer Films. She also worked on movies like Postcards From America and I Shot Andy Warhol with them.

She worked on many political documentaries early in her career. Later, she worked on other types of films and TV shows. These included big-budget movies like Blow and Analyze That. She also worked on independent films such as Angela and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Her documentary work includes Unzipped and 4 Little Girls. She also filmed concert movies like Lou Reed's Berlin and Shine a Light. She has also worked on successful TV movies like If These Walls Could Talk. Her work also includes commercials and music videos for artists like Bjørk and The White Stripes.

In 1999, she was invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers. She was only the fifth woman to join this group, which had over 400 male members.

Ellen Kuras has received many awards for her work. In 1999, she received the Women in Film Kodak Vision Award. In 2006, she was honored at the Gotham Award for all her amazing work. In 2003, she was the first film technician to receive the NY Women In Film and TV Muse Award. This award is usually given to actresses. In 2009, she was a special honoree at the Santa Fe Film Festival. This was to celebrate her contributions to cinematography.

She has also been a judge at several film festivals. In 1997, she was a jury member at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2013, she was on the jury at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. In 2015, she was a jury member at the Belgrade Film Festival and the Camerimage. She has also given talks at film schools and festival events. These include places like SVA, NYU, and BU.

Ellen Kuras's Filmography

Ellen Kuras has worked on many films and TV shows. Here are some of her most notable projects.

As a Cinematographer

Fiction Films

Short Films

Feature Films

Television Series

Documentary Works

Short Documentaries

Documentary Films

Concert Films

Television Documentaries

Miniseries

TV Movies

As a Director

Documentary Film

Feature Film

• Lee (2023)

TV Series

Miniseries

TV Movie

• Play is Your Superpower (2023)

Awards and Nominations

Ellen Kuras has received many awards and nominations for her work.

Academy Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

Sundance Film Festival

Independent Spirit Awards

Online Film Critics Society

See also

In Spanish: Ellen Kuras para niños