Chris Menges | |
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Born | Kington, Herefordshire, England | 15 September 1940
Occupation(s) | Cinematographer and film director |
Parent |
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Chris Menges BSC, ASC (born 15 September 1940) is a British cinematographer and film director. He is a member of both the American and British Societies of Cinematographers.
Menges was born in Kington, Herefordshire, the son of the composer and conductor Herbert Menges. [1] He began his career in the 1960s as camera operator for documentaries by Adrian Cowell and for films including Poor Cow by Ken Loach and If.... by Lindsay Anderson. Kes , directed by Ken Loach, was his first film as cinematographer. He was also behind the camera on Stephen Frears' first feature film Gumshoe in 1971.
After several documentaries and feature films such as Black Beauty (1971), Bloody Kids (1978), The Game Keeper (1980), Babylon (1980) and Angel (1982), Menges became notable for more ambitious works, for which he was critically acclaimed.
In 1983, he received his first BAFTA nomination for the Bill Forsyth film Local Hero and only a year later won his first Academy Award for the film The Killing Fields about the genocide in Cambodia. He continued his work with helmer Roland Joffe and Menges won his second Oscar in 1986 with the historical drama The Mission . He also shot a television play titled Made in Britain, starring Tim Roth in 1983.
In 1988, Menges made his directorial debut with A World Apart . This film was celebrated at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and won three major awards. [2]
His second film as director, CrissCross with Goldie Hawn, received critical acclaim but was a box-office flop. In 1996 he moved back behind the camera to shoot the award-winning films The Boxer (directed by Jim Sheridan) and Michael Collins . For the latter, he received his third Academy Award nomination in 1997.
Menges also made documentaries. In the early 1970s, he went to Burma with British film maker Adrian Cowell to shoot The Opium Warlords, a film about the drug trade. After the release of the documentary in 1974, the Burmese government was said to have put a price on their heads. Menges is mentioned in the book Conversations with Cinematographers by David A. Ellis, published by Scarecrow Press.
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1969 | Kes | Ken Loach | |
1971 | Black Beauty | James Hill | |
1971 | Gumshoe | Stephen Frears | |
1979 | Black Jack | Ken Loach | |
1980 | The Gamekeeper | ||
1980 | Babylon | Franco Rosso | |
1981 | Looks and Smiles | Ken Loach | |
1982 | Battletruck | Harley Cokeliss | |
1983 | Local Hero | Bill Forsyth | |
1984 | Comfort and Joy | ||
The Killing Fields | Roland Joffé | ||
1986 | The Mission | ||
1987 | Shy People | Andrei Konchalovsky | |
1996 | Michael Collins | Neil Jordan | |
1997 | The Boxer | Jim Sheridan | |
2001 | The Pledge | Sean Penn | |
2002 | Dirty Pretty Things | Stephen Frears | |
The Good Thief | Neil Jordan | ||
2005 | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Tommy Lee Jones | |
North Country | Niki Caro | ||
2006 | Notes on a Scandal | Richard Eyre | |
2008 | The Reader | Stephen Daldry | Co-cinematographer with Roger Deakins |
Stop-Loss | Kimberly Peirce | ||
The Yellow Handkerchief | Udayan Prasad | ||
2010 | Route Irish | Ken Loach | |
London Boulevard | William Monahan | ||
2011 | Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close | Stephen Daldry | |
2013 | Hummingbird | Steven Knight | |
2019 | Waiting for the Barbarians | Ciro Guerra |
Academy Awards
Year | Title | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | The Killing Fields | Best Cinematography | Won |
1986 | The Mission | Won | |
1996 | Michael Collins | Nominated | |
2008 | The Reader | Nominated |
BAFTA Awards
Year | Title | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Local Hero | Best Cinematography | Nominated |
1984 | The Killing Fields | Won | |
1986 | The Mission | Nominated | |
1996 | Michael Collins | Nominated | |
2008 | The Reader | Nominated |
American Society of Cinematographers
Year | Title | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1986 | The Mission | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | Nominated |
1996 | Michael Collins | Nominated | |
1997 | The Boxer | Nominated | |
2008 | The Reader | Nominated |
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Year | Title | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | The Killing Fields | Best Cinematography | Won |
1986 | The Mission | Won | |
1996 | Michael Collins | Won | |
National Society of Film Critics
Year | Title | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | Comfort and Joy | Best Cinematography | Won |
The Killing Fields | Won | ||
1996 | Michael Collins | Nominated | |
New York Film Critics Circle
Year | Title | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | The Killing Fields | Best Cinematography | Won |
1986 | The Mission | Nominated |
Other awards
Year | Title | Award/Nomination |
---|---|---|
1984 | The Killing Fields | Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography |
1996 | Michael Collins | Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography |
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