# Emmanuel Lubezki

Emmanuel Lubezki Morgenstern (Spanish pronunciation:; born November 30, 1964) is a Mexican cinematographer. Lubezki is known for uses of natural lighting and continuous uninterrupted shots in cinematography, often utilizing a Steadicam, a 3-axis gimbal, or hand-held camera. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with Terrence Malick, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro González Iñárritu.
He has received numerous accolades including three consecutive wins for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for the science fiction thriller Gravity (2013), the dark comedy Birdman (2014), and the epic western The Revenant (2015). He was Oscar-nominated for his work on A Little Princess (1995), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The New World (2005), Children of Men (2006), and The Tree of Life (2011).
Lubezki is a member of both the Mexican Society of Cinematographers and the American Society of Cinematographers. Lubezki won the Royal Photographic Society Lumière Award for major achievement in cinematography, video or animation in 2016.

## Early life and education

Lubezki was born to a Jewish family in Mexico City, Mexico. His father was actor and producer Muni Lubezki. His paternal grandfather is Lithuanian Jewish while his grandmother is also Jewish, from Russia. Lubezki studied film at Mexico's Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos (CUEC), where he met Alfonso Cuarón.

## Career

Lubezki began his career in Mexican film and television productions in the late 1980s. His first international production was the 1993 independent film Twenty Bucks, which followed the journey of a single twenty-dollar bill. He has worked with directors including Mike Nichols, Tim Burton, Michael Mann, Joel and Ethan Coen, and David O. Russell.
Lubezki is a frequent collaborator with fellow Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón. The two have been friends since they were teenagers and attended the same film school at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Together they have worked on six motion pictures: Sólo Con Tu Pareja, A Little Princess, Great Expectations, Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men, and Gravity. His work with Cuarón on Children of Men (2006) has received universal acclaim. The film utilized a number of new technologies and distinctive techniques. The "roadside ambush" scene was shot in one extended take utilizing a special camera rig invented by Doggicam systems, developed from the company's Power Slide system. For the scene, a vehicle was modified to enable seats to tilt and lower actors out of the way of the camera. The windshield of the car was designed to tilt out of the way to allow camera movement in and out through the front windscreen. A crew of four, including Lubezki, rode on the roof. Children of Men also features a seven-and-a-half-minute battle sequence composed of roughly five seamless edits.
Lubezki won his first Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Cuarón's Gravity, a thriller set in outer space. The film was praised for the way it combined two shots through digital backgrounds of space to create the illusion of scenes done in a single shot. Lubezki won his second Academy Award for Best Cinematography in the following year for his work on Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman. The film used a similar technique from Gravity, being very unusual in the way the entire movie was shot so as to appear to be photographed in one continuous take. Lubezki won the award again in 2015 for Iñárritu's The Revenant, becoming a milestone for his third consecutive win and for being the first cinematographer to do so. The film was shot entirely in the wilderness during a cold season, minimizing the amount of CGI and using only natural lighting. It was an extremely difficult process that required a limited amount of time to shoot each scene, which delayed the production, causing budget overruns and changes of locations for proper settings. However, The Revenant earned over $500 million at the box office and received critical acclaim, with much praise for the film's atmospheric tone and realism.

## Style and reception

Lubezki is known for groundbreaking uses of natural lighting and continuous uninterrupted shots in cinematography, often utilizing a Steadicam, a 3-axis gimbal, or hand-held camera to orchestrate fluid, uninterrupted camera movements during particularly significant scenes. Lubezki is a member of both the Mexican Society of Cinematographers and the American Society of Cinematographers. Lubezki won the Royal Photographic Society Lumière Award for major achievement in cinematography, video or animation in 2016.

## Filmography
### Short film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1983 | Vengeance Is Mine | Alfonso Cuarón Carlos Marcovich Luis Estrada | Co-cinematographer with Cuaron |
| 1985 | Sera por eso que la quiero tanto | Carlos Marcovich | |
| 1988 | Los buzos diamantistas | Marcela Couturier | |
| 1990 | La muchacha | Dorotea Guerra | |
| 2002 | From Mesmer, with Love or Tea for Two | Alejandro Lubezki Salvador Aguirre | |
| 2007 | Anna | Alejandro González Iñárritu | Segment of To Each His Own Cinema |
| 2017 | Flesh and Sand | Alejandro González Iñárritu | |
| 2023 | The Knowing Southern Right Whales | Himself | Documentary short |

### Feature film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1990 | Bandidos | Luis Estrada | |
| 1991 | Sólo con tu pareja | Alfonso Cuarón | |
| 1992 | Like Water for Chocolate | Alfonso Arau | With Steven Bernstein |
| 1993 | Twenty Bucks | Keva Rosenfeld | |
| 1993 | Miroslava | Alejandro Pelayo | |
| 1993 | The Harvest | David Marconi | |
| 1994 | Reality Bites | Ben Stiller | |
| 1994 | Ámbar | Luis Estrada | |
| 1995 | A Little Princess | Alfonso Cuarón | |
| 1995 | A Walk in the Clouds | Alfonso Arau | |
| 1996 | The Birdcage | Mike Nichols | |
| 1998 | Great Expectations | Alfonso Cuarón | |
| 1998 | Meet Joe Black | Martin Brest | |
| 1999 | Sleepy Hollow | Tim Burton | |
| 2000 | Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her | Rodrigo García | |
| 2001 | Ali | Michael Mann | |
| 2001 | Y Tu Mamá También | Alfonso Cuarón | |
| 2003 | The Cat in the Hat | Bo Welch | |
| 2004 | The Assassination of Richard Nixon | Niels Mueller | Also credited as associate producer |
| 2004 | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | Brad Silberling | |
| 2005 | The New World | Terrence Malick | |
| 2006 | Children of Men | Alfonso Cuarón | |
| 2008 | Burn After Reading | Coen brothers | |
| 2011 | The Tree of Life | Terrence Malick | |
| 2012 | To the Wonder | Terrence Malick | |
| 2013 | Gravity | Alfonso Cuarón | |
| 2014 | Birdman | Alejandro González Iñárritu | |
| 2015 | Last Days in the Desert | Rodrigo García | |
| 2015 | Knight of Cups | Terrence Malick | |
| 2015 | The Revenant | Alejandro González Iñárritu | |
| 2017 | Song to Song | Terrence Malick | |
| 2022 | Amsterdam | David O. Russell | |
| 2026 | Untitled Alejandro G. Iñárritu film | Alejandro González Iñárritu | Filming |

### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1989–90 | La hora marcada | Alfonso Cuarón Luis Estrada Juan Mora Catlett | 8 episodes; Also credited as producer |
| 1990 | El motel de la muerte | Luis Estrada Jorge Prior | TV movie; With Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo Granillo and Antonio Ruiz |
| 1993 | Fallen Angels | Steven Soderbergh Alfonso Cuarón | Episodes "The Quiet Room" and "Murder Obliquely" |
| 2024 | Disclaimer | Alfonso Cuarón | Miniseries; With Bruno Delbonnel, also credited as executive producer |
TV shorts
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2010 | Write the Future | Alejandro González Iñárritu | |
| 2010 | Dick Tracy Special | Warren Beatty Chris Merrill | With Stephanie Martin |

### Other credits

Short film
| Year | Title | Director | Producer | Writer | Editor |
| 1985 | Ejercicio de 20 año | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1986 | Marlena en la pared | Yes | No | No | No |
| 2007 | Lección relámpago | No | Co-producer | No | No |
Documentary short
| Year | Title | Director | Producer | Editor |
| 1990 | Caifanes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2023 | The Knowing Southern Right Whales | Yes | No | No |
Film producer
* Camino largo a Tijuana (1988)
* El ingeniero (2012) (Documentary film)

## Awards and nominations

Lubezki has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following films:
* 68th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, A Little Princess (1995)
* 72nd Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, Sleepy Hollow (1999)
* 78th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, The New World (2005)
* 79th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, Children of Men (2006)
* 84th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, nomination, The Tree of Life (2011)
* 86th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, win, Gravity (2013)
* 87th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, win, Birdman (2014)
* 88th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography, win, The Revenant (2015)