James Laxton | |
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Alma mater | Florida State University (BFA) |
Years active | 2003–present |
Parent | Aggie Guerard Rodgers (mother) [1] |
James Laxton is an American cinematographer who is best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Barry Jenkins, specifically his work on Jenkins' 2016 film Moonlight , for which he won an Independent Spirit Award and received an Academy Award nomination. [2] [3]
Laxton began at Florida State University, where he met Jenkins. They collaborated on numerous films, including the critically acclaimed 2016 film Moonlight. After graduating, Laxton entered the industry by assisting the camera department on features and shorts, including projects from directors such as David Nordstrom, David Parker, and Cole Schreiber.
In childhood, Laxton accompanied his mother, a noted costume designer, to film sets. He reported being inspired by the rhythm of chaos and calm on the movie set, which played a significant role in his decision to enter the industry. [4]
Laxton's most critically acclaimed credit is the 2016 film Moonlight ، directed by Barry Jenkins. The film explores themes of sexuality in a harsh urban environment. A relatively low budget of 1.5 million dollars [5] forced Laxton to forgo equipment such as underwater camera gear and search for innovative cinematographic solutions. [6]
If Beale Street Could Talk was also a Jenkins collaboration. The film features a tragic love story set in 1970s New York City, between Clementine "Tish" Rivers (played by KiKi Layne) and wood artist Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt (played by Stephan James). The two struggle against racism, sexual harassment and assault, and a false rape accusation. The film is based on a novel by James Baldwin, and uses a non-linear structure.
In discussing the success of the movie, which has been described as "trading docu-realism for crafted visual poetry of the highest level," [7] Laxton and Jenkins accredited their years-long process of conversation and collaboration.
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | My Josephine | Barry Jenkins | |
Little Brown Boy | |||
2005 | The Unseen Kind-Hearted Beast | Amy Seimetz | |
2009 | A Young Couple | Barry Jenkins | |
2010 | Eggshells for Soil | Megan Boone | |
2012 | Mission Chinese | David Parker Cole Schreiber | |
Rest | Cole Schreiber | ||
2013 | Fête des Pets | Nicholas Jasenovec | |
2014 | Lemonade War | Ramin Bahrani | |
2016 | Easter | Nicholas McCarthy | Segment of Holidays ; Shared credit with Bridger Nielson and Shaheen Seth |
Bernie Sanders Is the One for Me | Andrew Deyoung | ||
Youth | Brett Marty | ||
Welcome to the Last Bookstore | Chad Howitt | Documentary short | |
2019 | Squarespace: Dream It | Spike Jonze | |
2021 | Reebok's Reconnect | Jonas Lindstroem |
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Medicine for Melancholy | Barry Jenkins | |
2010 | The Violent Kind | The Butcher Brothers | |
The Myth of the American Sleepover | David Robert Mitchell | ||
Karma | Adivi Sesh | ||
2010 | Sawdust City | David Nordstrom | |
2012 | California Solo | Marshall Lewy | |
For a Good Time, Call... | Jamie Travis | ||
Leave Me Like You Found Me | Adele Romanski | With Jay Keitel | |
The Murder of Hi Good | Lee Lynch | ||
2013 | Bad Milo | Jacob Vaughan | |
The Moment | Jane Weinstock | ||
Dealin' with Idiots | Jeff Garlin | ||
Adult World | Scott Coffey | ||
2014 | Camp X-Ray | Peter Sattler | |
Tusk | Kevin Smith | ||
2016 | Yoga Hosers | ||
Moonlight | Barry Jenkins | ||
2017 | Anything | Timothy McNeil | |
2018 | If Beale Street Could Talk | Barry Jenkins | |
2024 | Mufasa: The Lion King | Filming | |
TBA | Los Valientes | Aurora Guerrero |
Documentary film
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | The Last Buffalo Hunt | Lee Anne Schmitt | |
2013 | Tradition Is a Temple: The Modern Masters of New Orleans | Darren Hoffman | With Jason Prowell, Shane Sauer and Richard Thompson III |
2016 | The Black Jacket | Ryan Simon | |
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | Futurestates | Barry Jenkins | Episode "Remigration" |
2013 | You and Your Fucking Coffee | Henry Phillips | Episodes "Election Day" and "Theater Lobby" |
2014 | Rubberhead | Dean Fleischer-Camp | TV movie; Segment "Knickers" |
2016 | Garfunkel and Oates: Trying to Be Special | Jeremy Konner Riki Lindhome | TV short; With Samuel Brownfield |
2018 | Here and Now | Alan Ball | Episode "Eleven Eleven" |
2019 | Black Monday | Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg | Episode "365" |
2021 | The Underground Railroad | Barry Jenkins | Miniseries |
Year | Title | Awards/Nominations |
---|---|---|
2008 | Medicine for Melancholy | Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography |
2016 | Moonlight | Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematography San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematography [8] Nominated – Academy Award for Best Cinematography Nominated – ASC Award for Outstanding Cinematography Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography Nominated – Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Cinematography Nominated – San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematography Nominated – St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography Nominated – Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography |
2018 | If Beale Street Could Talk | Nominated – Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography |
The cinematographer or director of photography is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera and light crews working on such projects. They would normally be responsible for making artistic and technical decisions related to the image and for selecting the camera, film stock, lenses, filters, etc. The study and practice of this field are referred to as cinematography.
Rodrigo Prieto Stambaugh, ASC, AMC, is a Mexican cinematographer. He has collaborated with Martin Scorsese and Alejandro González Iñárritu, among other prominent directors. He is a member of both the Mexican Society of Cinematographers and the American Society of Cinematographers. Throughout his career, Prieto has received many awards and nominations, including four Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Martin Scorsese's Silence (2016), The Irishman (2019), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).
If Beale Street Could Talk is a 1974 novel by American writer James Baldwin. His fifth novel, it is a love story set in Harlem in the early 1970s. The title is a reference to the 1916 W.C. Handy blues song "Beale Street Blues", named after Beale Street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee.
David Russell Boyd, A.S.C. is an American cinematographer and director of television and film known for his role as director of photography for the Fox television series Firefly and the AMC series The Walking Dead. He also worked as cinematographer on the first three episodes of HBO's Deadwood. On the NBC television series Friday Night Lights he served as director of photography on 18 of 22 episodes in the first season and moved up to direct two more. He also directed the film Home Run, which was released in 2013.
The Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts is the film school of the Florida State University. About 215 students are enrolled in classes, including undergraduates and graduate students, including Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts students.
The Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) is an organization of professional film critics from Austin, Texas.
Colman Jason Domingo is an American actor, playwright, and director. Prominent on both screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.
Stephan James is a Canadian actor. After starring in a string of television series as a teenager, he rose to prominence upon winning a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor for his role as track and field sprinter Jesse Owens in the 2016 film Race.
Nicholas Britell is an American film and television composer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and a Grammy Award. He has received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score for Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up (2021). He also scored McKay's The Big Short (2015) and Vice (2018). He is also known for scoring Battle of the Sexes (2017), Cruella (2021), and She Said (2022).
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Barry Jenkins is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film My Josephine (2003), he directed his first feature film Medicine for Melancholy (2008) for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature. He is also a member of The Chopstars collective as a creative collaborator.
The 82nd New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 2016, were announced on December 1, 2016 and presented on January 3, 2017.
Joi McMillon is an American film editor. In 2003, she graduated from Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts. McMillon is known for her work on the Academy Award-winning film Moonlight (2016), and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), both winning several respective accolades.
If Beale Street Could Talk is a 2018 American romantic drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins and based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel of the same name. It stars an ensemble cast that includes KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Michael Beach, Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal, Ed Skrein, Brian Tyree Henry, and Regina King. The film follows a young woman who, with her family's support, seeks to clear the name of her wrongly charged lover and prove his innocence before the birth of their child.
James Hawkinson is an American cinematographer known for his work in television, music videos, and film. He is best known for his critically acclaimed work on the Hannibal and The Man in the High Castle television series', for which he has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award and a nomination for an ASC Award.
Kiandra "KiKi" Layne is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles in such films as the romantic drama If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), the drama Native Son (2019), the action superhero film The Old Guard (2020), and the romantic comedy Coming 2 America (2021).
The 17th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards were announced on December 3, 2018.
If Beale Street Could Talk (Original Motion Picture Score) is the score album to the 2018 film of the same name directed by Barry Jenkins based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel of the same name. Featuring original music written and composed by Nicholas Britell, the film marked his second collaboration with Jenkins after the Academy Award-winning Moonlight (2016). According to Britell, he used two different soundscapes to depict the relationship between Clementine "Tish" Rivers (KiKi Layne) and Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt (Stephan James) as well as the horrors of alleged accusation over Fonny, and the aftermath surrounds. The primary instruments used in most of the scores, were strings and brass to depict the relationship, while orchestra and jazz also accompany the score.