# Bonnie Elliott

Bonnie Elliott is an Australian cinematographer. She has been nominated for and won numerous AACTA Awards in cinematography, including for Spear (2015), Seven Types of Ambiguity (2017), H Is for Happiness (2019), and Stateless (2020).

## Early life and education

Bonnie Elliott graduated from the University of Technology Sydney in 1988. While studying there, she was involved in the production of student films and the teen drama Heartbreak High. One of her teachers was US-born cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Martha Ansara.
In 2006 she obtained a Master of Arts in Film, Television, and Digital Media Cinematography AFTRS, where she studied under female cinematographers Jan Kenny and Erika Addis.

## Career

Elliott worked as a clapper loader and focus puller for eight years, at the same time shooting her own work on a number of short films, using short ends left over from her jobs.
Her first feature film was My Tehran for Sale (2008), which she said would always be a major highlight of her career. Shot in Iran, the crew filmed in Tehran for 11 weeks. She was the only Australian, and the only female working with a crew of Iranian men, on the film about young artists living under the repressive Iranian regime, which made it somewhat risky.
Elliott was requested by Stephen Page of Bangarra Dance Theatre to collaborate with him on the production of Spear (released 2015), an adaptation of Page's stage work, which explores themes of Aboriginal masculinity.
She shot Meryl Tankard's 30-minute documentary film Michelle's Story, about the dancer and choreographer Michelle Ryan, who has multiple sclerosis. Ryan became artistic director of Restless Dance Theatre in 2013. The film premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2015, and won the Audience Award there. It went on to screen at other festivals, and won other awards.
She filmed the short film Drowning with longtime friend and collaborator Craig Boreham, as a prelude to the 2016 film Teenage Kicks, which was made on a tiny budget. Drowning had its Australian premiere at the Flickerfest International Short Film Festival in December 2009 at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
In 2017, Elliott was cinematographer for "Joe", the second episode of Seven Types of Ambiguity.
She also shot the 2019 family film H Is for Happiness, and on the psychological thriller Undertow, released in 2020.
She worked on the ABC TV drama series Fires, which aired in late 2021, and the documentaries Freeman and Step into Paradise.
Elliott was cinematographer for the 2023 film Run Rabbit Run.

## Influences

Elliott says that she has been inspired and influenced by a number of woman cinematographers, including Mandy Walker; Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind); French DP Maryse Alberti (The Wrestler); and Argentine cinematographer Natasha Braier. She also greatly admires the work of Harris Savides, who collaborated with filmmaker Gus Van Sant.

## Other activities

In 2020, Elliott devised the concept for #whoisinyourcrew, a campaign to promote female representation in cinematography.

## Recognition and awards

At the 2012 Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Awards, she won Best Short Film Cinematography for I'm the One.
In 2016, she was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography for Spear at the 6th AACTA Awards.
In October 2016, Elliott was accredited by the Australian Cinematographers Society, then the 10th woman to receive the accreditation of the total number of 379 (by December 2019 there were 15).
In 2017, she won the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in Television for "Joe", the second episode of Seven Types of Ambiguity.
In 2018, renowned film critic David Stratton praised Elliott's "attractive photography" in his review of Undertow in The Australian.
In 2020, at the 10th AACTA Awards, she was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography for H Is for Happiness, and won the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in Television for "The Circumstances in Which They Come", the first episode of Stateless.
In 2021, she had three nominations at the 11th AACTA Awards – the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in Television for "Everything's Gone", the second episode of Fires, and the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary for Freeman and Step into Paradise. Of these three, she won only the first award.
In Comic Book Resources' review of Run Rabbit Run (2023), Josh Bell said that, as cinematographer, Elliott works with Daina Reid, the film's director, to "continue creating striking images even as the plot goes in circles".

### Awards and nominations

| Year | Title | Award | Result |
| 2012 | I'm the One | Sorta Unofficial New Zealand Film Award for Best Short Film Cinematography | Won |
| 2016 | Spear | AACTA Award for Best Cinematography | Nominated |
| 2017 | Seven Types of Ambiguity, Episode: "Joe" | AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in Television | Won |
| 2020 | H Is for Happiness | AACTA Award for Best Cinematography | Nominated |
| 2020 | Stateless, Episode: "The Circumstances in Which They Come" | AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in Television | Won |
| 2021 | Freeman | AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary | Nominated |
| 2021 | Step into Paradise | AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary | Nominated |
| 2021 | Fires, Episode: "Everything's Gone" | AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in Television | Won |