Lol Crawley

Lol Crawley
Crowley at the IFFR 2025
Born	(1974-11-02) 2 November 1974 (age 50) [1] Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
Years active	1998–present

Laurie "Lol" Crawley (born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire ^[2] ) is a British cinematographer.

He is known for his collaborations with director Brady Corbet on such films as The Childhood of a Leader (2015), Vox Lux (2018), and The Brutalist (2024), which earned him the Academy Award and the BAFTA, as well as a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award.

His other works also include Ballast (2008), Four Lions (2010), 45 Years (2015), The Humans (2020), and White Noise (2022) as well as the BBC Two series The Crimson Petal and the White (2011) and the Netflix series The OA (2016) and Black Mirror (2017).

Career

In 2013, Crawley shot Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom , which was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival ^[3] and attracted critical attention^{[ vague ]} for its cinematography. ^[4] Crawley has been inducted into the British Society of Cinematographers. ^[5] He has been awarded two cinematography awards at film festivals, ^[6] and also has been nominated for four Film Independent Spirit Awards. ^[7]

Reception

In 2016 The Playlist profiled Crawley in their filmmakers on the rise stating that, "British DP Lol Crawley isn’t quite a brand new name — he’s been doing some remarkably impressive work in features for nearly a decade now. But of late, he’s gone from an extraordinarily impressive cinematographer to staking his claim at being one of the best in the world." ^[8]

Personal life

Lol Crawley was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and grew up in Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, Wales, with his parents and two older sisters. He attended Ysgol Llanfyllin and Oswestry College and completed a BTEC National Diploma in Audio Visual Studies at The North East Wales Institute, before studying at Northumbria University, where he earned a BA Hons.

He is seen as an inspiration to the pupils of Ysgol Llanfyllin, with the current headmaster, Dewi Owen, quoted in the Borders Counties Advertizer as saying:

"Lol’s journey from a pupil at Ysgol Llanfyllin to an internationally celebrated cinematographer is an inspiration to our students and the wider community. His success highlights the incredible potential of young people from our school and local area to achieve greatness in the creative industries and beyond." ^[9]

Filmography

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Notes	Ref.
2008	Ballast	Lance Hammer		[6] [10]
	Better Things	Duane Hopkins
2009	Wasted	Stuart Davids Caroline Paterson
	Four Lions	Chris Morris		[11]
2010	Donkeys	Morag McKinnon
2011	On the Ice	Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
	Here	Braden King
2012	Hyde Park on Hudson	Roger Michell		[12] [13]
2013	Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom	Justin Chadwick		[14] [15]
2015	45 Years	Andrew Haigh		[16]
	The Childhood of a Leader	Brady Corbet
2018	Vox Lux
2019	Dau	Ilya Khrzhanovsky	With Manuel Alberto Claro and Jürgen Jürges
2020	The Secret Garden	Marc Munden
	The Devil All the Time	Antonio Campos
2021	The Humans	Stephen Karam
2022	White Noise	Noah Baumbach
2024	The Brutalist	Brady Corbet		[17]
2025	DreamQuil	Alex Prager

Documentary film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2010	One Night in Turin	James Erskine
2011	From the Ashes		With Joel Devlin and Richard Malins
2015	The Reflektor Tapes	Kahlil Joseph	With Autumn Durald Arkapaw and Malik Hassan Sayeed
2021	Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan	Alma Har'el	Concert film

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes	Ref.
2003	Reps	Andy Ross
2007	Where There's a Will	Daniel Elliott	Documentary series
2011	The Crimson Petal and the White	Marc Munden	Miniseries	[18]
2012	Murder	Birger Larsen	Episode "Joint Enterprise"
2014	Turn: Washington's Spies	Rupert Wyatt	Episode "Pilot"
	Utopia	Marc Munden Sam Donovan	Season 2	[19]
2016	The OA	Zal Batmanglij	Season 1
2017	Black Mirror	John Hillcoat	Episode "Crocodile"

Crawley receiving the Robby Müller Award at the IFFR 2025

Music video

Year	Title	Artist	Ref.
2010	"Stay Too Long"	Plan B	[20]
	"She Said"
	"Love Goes Down"
	"Hang With Me"	Robyn
2011	"Blind Faith"	Chase and Status	[21]
	"Charlie Brown"	Coldplay	[20]
	"Take Another Ride"	Kassidy

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Title	Result	Ref.
2008	Sundance Film Festival	Excellence in Cinematography	Ballast	Won	[6] [22]
2009	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Cinematography		Nominated	[22]
2010	UK Music Video Awards	Best Cinematography	Plan B - "Stay Too Long"	Won	[20]
	Design and Art Direction Awards	Best Cinematography		Nominated	[20]
2011	Woodstock Film Festival	Best Cinematography	On the Ice	Won	[23]
2013	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Cinematography	Here	Nominated
2014	Royal Television Society	Photography - Drama	Utopia	Won	[19]
2017	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Cinematography	The Childhood of a Leader	Nominated
2022			The Humans	Nominated
2025	International Film Festival Rotterdam	Robby Müller Award		Won	[24]
	Academy Awards	Best Cinematography	The Brutalist	Won
	American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography		Nominated
	BAFTA Awards	Best Cinematography		Won
	British Society of Cinematographers	Best Cinematography		Won
	Critics' Choice Movie Awards	Best Cinematography		Nominated

References

1. "Lol Crawley - movies list, photos and biography". Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
2. "Movie Review: Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (12A) - Graham Young - Birmingham Mail". 3 January 2014. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
3. "'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' Review: Idris Elba Is Superb in CliffsNotes Biopic | Variety". 9 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
4. "Aspect Ratio Film Reviews: Mandela". Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
5. "Lol Crawley, Daniel Landin and Christopher Ross | The British Society of Cinematographers". Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
6. "The Brits making waves at Sundance – again – Telegraph". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
7. "Lol Crawley | Spirit Awards 2014". Archived from the original on 29 July 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
8. "On The Rise 2016: 20 Filmmakers To Watch". Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
9. "Former local school pupil wins a Bafta - and is up for an Oscar!". Border Counties Advertizer. 21 February 2025. Retrieved 28 February 2025.
10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
11. "Index to Motion Picture Credits – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
12. "Production Starts on Hyde Park on Hudson - ComingSoon.net". Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
13. "ARRI Group: News". Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
14. "Contender – Cinematographer Lol Crawley, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom | Below the Line". 3 January 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
15. "WASHINGTON FILM INSTITUTE | FILM REVIEW: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom". 20 December 2013. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
16. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
17. "Lol Crawley, Dávid Jancsó & Kate Forbes on The Brutalist". Lux Artists. 9 March 2023. Archived from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
18. "The Crimson Petal and the White (TV Mini-Series 2011) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb". IMDb . Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
19. "RTS announces winners of the Craft & Design Awards 2014". 2 December 2014. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
20. "Lol Crawley, BSC // Cv". Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
21. "Lol Crawley, BSC // Music Video". Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
22. "Ballast Festivals and Awards". Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
23. "WFF 2011 MAVERICK AWARD CEREMONY WINNERS". Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
24. Scott Roxborough (21 November 2024). "'The Brutalist' DP Lol Crawley to Be Honored With Rotterdam's Robby Müller Award". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 6 January 2025.

External links

• Lol Crawley at IMDb