IFTA Skills in Focus: Cinematography Masterclass with Phedon Papamichael
The Irish Film and Television Academy is delighted to present IFTA Skills in Focus: Cinematography Masterclass with Phedon Papamichael in association with Screen Ireland.
Academy Award-nominated and internationally acclaimed cinematographer Phedon Papamichael's career as a cinematographer goes back to the 80s, but today he is the go-to DP for the best filmmakers in the business including James Mangold, Alexander Payne and Aaron Sorkin to name but a few.
For his incredible B&W lensing on the highly acclaimed Nebraska, which received 6 Academy Award nominations and was directed by Alexander Payne, Phedon received an Oscar nomination, a BAFTA nomination and an ASC nomination amongst other honors. He has since shot Le Mans '66 again for Mangold, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 from Aaron Sorkin. He has just recently completed the 5th installment of the Indiana Jones Franchise.
From his early days shooting stripper-centered B-movies under Roger Corman’s tutelage - with Wally Pfister and Janusz Kaminski as his camera crew - to the present day Phedon has over 40 feature films to his credit as Director of Photography, including block-busters While You Were Sleeping starring Sandra Bullock and Cool Runnings, as well as Phenomenon, starring John Travolta, all directed by Jon Turteltaub.
Other titles include The Million Dollar Hotel, by Wim Wenders which was chosen as the Opening Film of the 2000 Berlin Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Bear, as well as the Golden Camera.
This was followed by Identity, directed by James Mangold, and the Oscar-nominated Sideways, directed by Alexander Payne, and Walk the Line, again directed by Mangold and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. Phedon also shot the Academy Award nominated western 3:10 to Yuma, directed by James Mangold, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, and the blockbuster Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith, as well as much, much more.
In this Skills in Focus event Phedon will Share the the skills and techniques he uses to shoot award-winning cinema.
The Event will be moderated by multi award winning writer/director Cathy Brady. Her debut Feature Wildfire starring Nika McGuigan and Nora Jane Noone won her an IFTA award for Best Director, as well as earning an IFTA Award for lead actress Mika McGuigan. It would go on to win her a British Independent Film Award for Best Debut Screenwriter.
Cathy Brady has won three IFTA awards in total, having also won Best Short in 2011 for her first film Small Change and again in 2013 for Morning, which was also selected for the BFI London Film Festival 2012 and won the Short Film Nominee prize for the European Film Awards at Cork Film Festival.In 2011,
Brady directed the BIFA nominated short Rough Skin (written by Laura Lomas and starring Vicky McClure) as part of Channel 4's Coming Up scheme. Her short film, Wasted, competed at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2013. In the same year, Brady was named one of Screen Daily’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’.In 2014, Brady directed on the BAFTA-nominated drama-thriller series Glue.
Since then she has also directed Stefanie Preissner's TV comedy series Can’t Cope/Won’t Cope for Dead Pan Pictures and RTE, which screened on BBC Three.