# Adam Arkapaw

Adam Arkapaw is an Australian cinematographer. He is best known for his work on the television series Top of the Lake and True Detective, for which he has won two Creative Arts Emmy Awards. He is also known for his collaborations with director Justin Kurzel, whom he worked with on Snowtown, Macbeth, and Assassin's Creed.

## Early life

Arkapaw was born in Bowral, a New South Wales town south of Sydney, and attended Bowral High School. He studied at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts, graduating in 2006 with a Bachelor of Film and Television.

## Career

In addition to numerous short films, Arkapaw photographed three Australian features over the next several years: Animal Kingdom (2010), Snowtown (2011), and Lore (2012). He received a nomination for the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in 2010 for his work on Animal Kingdom and in 2011 he was named one of Variety magazine's "10 Cinematographers to Watch".
Arkawpaw next worked on Jane Campion's television miniseries Top of the Lake, which was filmed in New Zealand and broadcast in 2013. That year he won a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie. In 2014 he won his second Emmy Award, for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series, in recognition of his work on the HBO television series True Detective. True Detective was filmed in Louisiana and Arkapaw's cinematography received wide praise, especially for a six-minute single-take long take that was planned over months and took one and a half days to film.
Arkapaw was the cinematographer of the 2015 film Macbeth, directed by Justin Kurzel, with whom Arkapaw previously worked on Snowtown. He also photographed McFarland, USA, an American sports film released in 2015, and the drama film The Light Between Oceans. He collaborated with Kurzel for a third time on the action-adventure film Assassin's Creed, which was released in the United States in December 2016.

## Personal life

He is married to American cinematographer Autumn Durald; the couple has one son.

## Filmography
### Short film

| Year | Title | Director |
| 2004 | The Road Not Taken | Ruby Hamad |
| 2005 | In the Shadows | Jessica Leski |
| 2005 | The City Eats Its Weak | Sasha Whitehouse |
| 2006 | Invisible | Jonathan Murray |
| 2006 | Booth Story | Kasimir Burgess Edwin McGill |
| 2006 | End of Town | Julius Avery |
| 2006 | Anne & Richard | Christine Rogers |
| 2007 | Songs for Running Away | Jessica Leski |
| 2008 | I Love Sarah Jane | Spencer Susser |
| 2008 | Jerrycan | Julius Avery |
| 2008 | Little Wings | Polly Staniford |
| 2008 | Wanderlust/Wanderlost | Keri D. Light |
| 2008 | Ahmad's Garden | Aaron Wilson |
| 2008 | Dissection | Callum Cooper |
| 2008 | Directions | Kasimir Burgess |
| 2008 | Love Apples | Ali Kasap |
| 2009 | 27 | Jordan Molloy |
| 2009 | The Last Supper | Angus Sampson |
| 2009 | Jen in the Painting | Matthew Aveiro |
| 2009 | Apricot | Ben Briand |
| 2010 | Foreign Parts | Michael Cody |
| 2011 | Bear | Nash Edgerton |
| 2012 | Yardbird | Michael Spiccia |
| 2012 | Dumpy Goes to the Big Smoke | Mirrah Foulkes |
| 2014 | The Apprentice | Steve Baker Damon Escott |
Documentary short
| Year | Title | Director |
| 2007 | Podlove: Our Brilliant Second Life | Shelley Matulick |

### Feature film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2009 | Blind Company | Alkinos Tsilimidos | |
| 2010 | Animal Kingdom | David Michôd | |
| 2011 | Snowtown | Justin Kurzel | |
| 2012 | Lore | Cate Shortland | |
| 2015 | McFarland, USA | Niki Caro | |
| 2015 | Macbeth | Justin Kurzel | |
| 2016 | The Light Between Oceans | Derek Cianfrance | |
| 2016 | Assassin's Creed | Justin Kurzel | |
| 2019 | Light of My Life | Casey Affleck | |
| 2019 | The King | David Michôd | |
| 2022 | The Chess Game | Will Taylor | With Rob White |
| 2024 | The Order | Justin Kurzel | |
| 2025 | Magazine Dreams | Elijah Bynum | |
Documentary film
| Year | Title | Director |
| 2007 | We Will Be Remembered For This | David Schmidt |
| 2010 | Return to Gaza | Michael Weatherhead |
| 2010 | The Ball | Jessica Leski |

### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2013 | Top of the Lake | Jane Campion Garth Davis | 7 episodes |
| 2014 | True Detective | Cary Joji Fukunaga | Season 1 |
| 2015 | Flesh and Bone | David Michôd | Episode "Bulling Through" |
| 2024 | Masters of the Air | Cary Joji Fukunaga | 4 episodes |

## Awards

| Award | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| AACTA Awards | 2012 | Best Cinematography | Snowtown | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | 2013 | Best Cinematography | Lore | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | 2014 | Best Cinematography in Television | Top of the Lake | Won |
| AACTA Awards | 2015 | Byron Kennedy Award | Adam Arkapaw | Won |
| AACTA Awards | 2019 | Best Cinematography | The King | Won |
| ASC Awards | 2015 | Spotlight Award | Macbeth | Won |
| Australian Film Institute Awards | 2006 | Outstanding Achievement in Short Film Screen Craft | End of Town | Nominated |
| Australian Film Institute Awards | 2010 | Best Cinematography | Animal Kingdom | Nominated |
| British Independent Film Awards | 2015 | Best Technical Achievement | Macbeth | Nominated |
| Manaki Film Festival | 2015 | Silver Camera 300 | Macbeth | Won |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2013 | Outstanding Cinematography | True Detective | Won |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 2014 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series | True Detective | Won |
| Stockholm International Film Festival | 2012 | Best Cinematography | Lore | Won |