Ellen Kuras (born July 10, 1959) is an American cinematographer, known for documentary and narrative film, as well as music videos and commercials, both from studio and independent media.
In 2008, she released her directorial debut, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Kuras grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. She had a fever as an infant, leaving her almost deaf in one ear and with about 1% in the other.
She attended Cedar Grove High School, where she served as president of the school's chapter of the National Honor Society. After earning a double degree in anthropology and semiotics at Brown University, she studied photography at RISD and 8mm filmmaking in New York, with the plan to become a documentary filmmaker.
In the early 1980s, Kuras planned to study on a Fulbright grant at a film school in Poland but was unable to go due to the introduction of martial law. She is of Polish descent on her father's side and the family surname was originally Kuraà Â.
Kuras began her film career in 1987, shooting Ellen Bruno's , the first US 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 got notice from the Student Academy Awards and the Sundance Film Festival where it received Special Jury Recognition.
That same year, she was asked by producer Christine Vachon to shoot her first dramatic film (Swoon) for director Tom Kalin. The film won her the Sundance Award for Excellence in Cinematography in 1992. This was the start of work with Killer Films, which includes Postcards From America and I Shot Andy Warhol.
She worked for political documentaries, and, later, other genre of film and TV, such as big-budget movies, independent films, documentary films, concert films, successful TV movies, commercials and music videos for musicians like Bjørk, The White Stripes.
In 1999, she was invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers, the fifth female member to join more than 400 male peers.
She has received accolades, including the Women in Film Kodak Vision Award in 1999 and was honored at the 2006 Gotham Award for her entire body of work. In 2003 she was the first film technician to receive the NY Women In Film and TV Muse Award, traditionally is given to actresses. In 2009 she was a special Honoree at the Santa Fe Film Festival for her work in the field of cinematography.
She has served on the juries of several film festivals. In 1997 she was invited to be on the jury of the Sundance Film Festival. In 2013, she was a member of the jury at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. In 2015 she was on the Jury of the Belgrade Film Festival and the Camerimage. She has guest-lectured at film schools and festival panels, including SVA, NYU, BU University of Texas at Austin, Walker Art Center, Hamptons International Film Festival, Camerimage, Berlinale and Woodstock Film Festival.
Short film
Feature film
Television
Concert film
Miniseries
TV movies
Documentary film
Feature film
TV series
Miniseries
TV movie
Academy Awards
Primetime Emmy Awards
Sundance Film Festival
Independent Spirit Awards
Online Film Critics Society