Lisa Rinzler is an American

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

who works on both feature films and documentaries. She has worked with

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...

, Martin Scorsese, the Hughes Brothers and Tamra Davis.

Early life and education

Lisa Rinzler was born on 30 November 1955 in New Jersey, USA. Rinzler dropped out of high school to attend the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

in New York. Initially studying painting, she then switched to film-making and moved to New York University's bigger film department.

Career

As a graduate, Rinzler shot two short films with

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...

and one short film with

. She worked as an assistant cinematographer for Nancy Schreiber and Fred Murphy. She moved into photographing documentaries, including ''The Dead'' with

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

, and music videos. Her work with Tamra Davis on music videos led to her working as Director of Photography on Davis's feature film

Guncrazy ''Guncrazy'' is a 1992 American crime drama film inspired by the 1950 film ''Gun Crazy''. It was directed by Tamra Davis in her feature film directorial debut, written by Matthew Bright and starring Drew Barrymore. Davis had read the script in 19 ...

. She and Davis were both then fired from the film ''Bad Girls'' for their feminist perspective. Davis introduced Rinzler to the Hughes brothers who employed her as Director of Photography on '' Menace II Society'' and '' Dead Presidents''. Rinzler then shot

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

's directorial debut, '' Trees Lounge''. She returned to documentary film-making, shooting part of Wim Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club (film), an episode of Martin Scorsese's

The Blues (film series) ''The Blues'' is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music. In each of the seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the development of the blues. The series originally aire ...

and the Oscar-winning short Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl).

Awards and recognition

Rinzler has won the Independent Spirit Award twice, for ''Menace II Society'' and ''Three Seasons'' in 1994 and 2000 respectively. She also won the 1999 Cinematography award at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

for ''Three Seasons''. Rinzler won the Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming (Single Or Multi-Camera)

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for ''Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues'' in 2004. She was also nominated for the Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming in 2013 for her work on '' Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God''. Rinzler was one of 30 women covered in the book ''Great Women of Film'' (2002) by Helene Lumme and Mika Manninen. She appeared in the documentaries ''Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography'' (1991) and ''Women Behind the Camera'' (2001-2006).

Filmography

* ''No Sense of Crime'' (1987) * ''The Dead'' (1987) * ''True Love'' (1988) * ''

'' (1991) * '' Menace II Society'' (1992) * Hookers, Prostitutes, Pimps and their Johns'' (1993) - tv documentary * '' Lisbon Story'' (1994) * '' Dead Presidents'' (1994) * '' Trees Lounge'' (1995) * ''

Black Kites Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

'' (1995) * ''

Three Seasons ''Three Seasons'' (Vietnamese title: ''Ba Mùa'') is a 1999 American film shot in Vietnam about the past, present, and future of Ho Chi Minh City in the early days of Doi Moi. It is a poetic film that tries to paint a picture of the urban cult ...

'' (1998) * '' Buena Vista Social Club'' (1998) * '' Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues'' * '' Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God'' (2012) * '' The 50 Year Argument'' (2014) * ''

Hitchcock Truffaut ''Hitchcock/Truffaut'' is a 2015 French-American documentary film directed by Kent Jones. Summary It is about François Truffaut's 1966 book on Alfred Hitchcock, ''Hitchcock/Truffaut'', and its impact on cinema. Truffaut had interviewed his fe ...

'' (2015) * ''

Pope Francis A Man of His Word The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

'' (2018) * '' Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)'' (2019)

References

External links

www.lisarinzler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rinzler, Lisa 1955 births Living people American women cinematographers American cinematographers