James Friend

Friend at FilmFest Munich in 2023

James Friend is a British cinematographer, best known for his work on Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front , which earned him the Academy Award ^{[1] [2]} and the BAFTA Award ^[3] for Best Cinematorgraphy.

Early life and career

Friend grew up in Maidstone, Kent, where he attended Sutton Valence School. ^[4] He was awarded a Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society for his film work in 2020. ^{[5] [6]}

Friend's television credits include Patrick Melrose and Your Honor , both of which he collaborated on with Berger. ^[7] Additionally, Friend worked on the 2024 Disney+ series The Acolyte , an installment in the Star Wars franchise. ^[8]

In 2024, Friend received an Honorary Fellowship from The Royal Photographic Society.

Filmography

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2006	The Man Who Sold the World	Louis Melville
2009	Umbrage	Drew Cullingham
2010	Just for the Record	Steven Lawson
	Dead Cert
	Stalker	Martin Kemp
2011	Carmen's Kiss	David Fairman
	Jack Falls	Paul Tanter Alexander Williams
	Ghosted	Craig Viveiros
	Turnout	Lee Sales
	The Hike	Rupert Bryan
	7 Lives	Paul Wilkins	With Nick Gordon Smith
2012	Truth or Dare	Robert Heath
	Piggy	Kieron Hawkes
	Papadopoulos & Sons	Marcus Markou
	Enzo	Alana O'Neill	Documentary film
2013	The Liability	Craig Viveiros
2014	Lords of London	Antonio Simoncini
	The Guvnors	Gabe Turner
2016	Breakdown	Jonnie Malachi
2022	All Quiet on the Western Front	Edward Berger
2025	Ballad of a Small Player		Also credited as associate producer
2026	Ghostwriter †	J. J. Abrams	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2006	StereoStep	Craig Viveiros	TV short
2008	The Secret World of Sam King	Benjamin Caron
2015	Lewis	David Drury	Episode "What Lies Tangled" (Part 1 and Part 2)
2015–16	Silent Witness	Ashley Pearce Patrick Lau Danny Hiller Douglas Mackinnon David Drury	12 episodes
2016	Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands	Marek Losey	3 episodes
	The Musketeers	Udayan Prasad	Episodes "Prisoners of War" and "We Are the Garrison"
2017	Stan Lee's Lucky Man	Marek Losey Daniel O'Hara	4 episodes
	The Late Late Show with James Corden	Glenn Clements	1 episode
	Victoria	Daniel O'Hara	Episodes "The King Over the Water" and "The Luxury of Conscience"
2017–18	Strike	Michael Keillor Kieron Hawkes	3 episodes
2020	Cursed	Zetna Fuentes	Episodes "Nimue" and "Cursed"
2020	Your Honor	Edward Berger	Episodes "Part One", "Part Two" and "Part Three"
2022	Willow	Philippa Lowthorpe	Episodes "Wildwood" and "Prisoners of Skellin"
2024	The Acolyte	Kogonada Hanelle Culpepper	4 episodes

Miniseries

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2014	Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist	Joey Ansah	Episode: "Beginnings"
2016	Rillington Place	Craig Viveiros
2018	Patrick Melrose	Edward Berger
2019	MotherFatherSon	Charles Sturridge James Kent	5 episodes
	The War of the Worlds	Craig Viveiros

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2022	Academy Awards	Best Cinematography	All Quiet on the Western Front	Won
	BAFTA Awards	Best Cinematography		Nominated
2017	British Society of Cinematographers	Best Cinematography in a Television Drama	Rillington Place	Nominated
2018			Patrick Melrose	Won
2021			Your Honor	Nominated
2022		Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film	All Quiet on the Western Front	Won
2018	Camerimage	First Look Award	Patrick Melrose	Won
2022		Golden Frog	All Quiet on the Western Front	Nominated

References

1. Gamerman, Ellen (March 12, 2023). "'All Quiet on the Western Front' Wins Best Cinematography". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 13 March 2023.
2. Lang, Brent; Earl, William (12 March 2023). "'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Dominates Oscars With Seven Wins, Including Best Picture (Full Winners List)". Variety . Retrieved 13 March 2023.
3. "BAFTAs 2023: James Friend ASC BSC wins Best Cinematography award for All Quiet on the Western Front". British Cinematographer. February 20, 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
4. McPolin, Sean (February 24, 2023). "Former Maidstone schoolboy James Friend picks up BAFTA and in line for Oscar with Netflix war film All Quiet On The Western Front". KM Media Group . Retrieved 13 March 2023.
5. Max Robinson, 'Moving Stories', RPS Journal, vol. 162, no. 2, March/April 2021, pp. 216-218.
6. 'Beauty and Bloodshed proves a winning formula', RPS Journal, vol. 163, no. 2, March/April 2023, pp. 124-125.
7. Lezotte, Suzanne (February 19, 2021). "James Friend, ASC, BSC Lights the Shadow of Doubt in "Your Honor"". Sony Cine. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
8. Ellwood, Gregory (February 15, 2023). "Why acting skills came into play for the 'All Quiet' cinematographer". The Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 13 March 2023.

External links

• James Friend at IMDb