# Néstor Almendros

Néstor Almendros Cuyás, ASC (30 October 1930 – 4 March 1992) was a Spanish cinematographer.
He was one of the most highly appraised contemporary cinematographers, having a working collaboration with filmmakers François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer and Robert Benton, while winning an Oscar for Best Cinematography for Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven.

## Early life

Néstor Almendros Cuyás was born in Barcelona, Spain, but at the age of 18, he moved to Cuba to join his exiled anti-Francisco Franco father. In Havana, he wrote film reviews. Then, he went on to study in Rome at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. He directed six shorts in Cuba and two in New York City.

## Career
### Early career

After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, he returned and made several documentaries for the Castro regime. But, after two of his shorts (Gente en la playa and La tumba francesa) were banned, he moved to Paris.

### France

Starting in 1964, he became the favorite collaborator of French New Wave director Éric Rohmer. In the early seventies, he also started working with François Truffaut, Barbet Schroeder and other directors.
Almendros’ collaborations with Rohmer would prove particularly fruitful, and are considered amongst the finest works of both men. These include the four feature length works from Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales series, La Collectionneuse (1967), My Night at Maud’s (1969), Claire’s Knee (1970), and Love in the Afternoon (1972), in addition to La Marquise d'O... (1976), Perceval le Gallois (1978), and Pauline at the Beach (1983).

### Hollywood

Almendros began his Hollywood career with Days of Heaven (1978), written and directed by Terrence Malick, who admired Almendros' work on Truffaut’s The Wild Child (1970). Almendros was impressed by Malick's knowledge of photography and his willingness to use little studio lighting. The film's cinematography was modeled after silent films, which often used natural light. In 1979, Almendros won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Days of Heaven.
Almendros received three further Academy Award nominations for his work on Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), The Blue Lagoon (1980) and Sophie's Choice (1982), making him the most nominated Spanish person in Academy history as of the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021.
Almendros was the cinematographer for the John Lennon documentary, Imagine: John Lennon (1988), directed by Andrew Solt.

### Later career

In his later years, Almendros co-directed two documentaries about the human rights situation in Cuba: Mauvaise Conduite (1984) (Improper Conduct) about the persecution of gay people in Cuba; and Nadie escuchaba (Nobody Was Listening), about the alleged arrest, imprisonment and torture of former comrades of Fidel Castro. He also shot several prestigious advertisements for Giorgio Armani (directed by Martin Scorsese), Calvin Klein (directed by Richard Avedon) and Freixenet.

## Legacy and honors

Human Rights Watch International has named an award after him by establishing the Nestor Almendros Award for Courage in Filmmaking and it is given every year at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.
In 1980, Almendros won the César Award for François Truffaut's The Last Metro.

## Death

In 1992, Néstor Almendros died of AIDS-related lymphoma in New York City at the age of 61.

## Filmography
### Cinematographer
#### Short film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1950 | Una confusión cotidiana | Himself Tomás Gutiérrez Alea | |
| 1964 | Nadja à Paris | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1965 | Saint-Germain-des-Prés | Jean Douchet | Segments of Six in Paris |
| 1965 | Place de l'Etoile | Éric Rohmer | Segments of Six in Paris |
| 1989 | Life Lessons | Martin Scorsese | Segment of New York Stories |

#### Feature film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1967 | La Collectionneuse | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1968 | The Wild Racers | Daniel Haller | |
| 1969 | More | Barbet Schroeder | |
| 1969 | My Night at Maud's | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1969 | The Gun Runner | Richard Compton | With Arch Archambault |
| 1970 | The Wild Child | François Truffaut | |
| 1970 | Paddy | Daniel Haller | Uncredited |
| 1970 | Bed and Board | François Truffaut | |
| 1970 | Claire's Knee | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1971 | Two English Girls | François Truffaut | |
| 1972 | La Vallée | Barbet Schroeder | |
| 1972 | Love in the Afternoon | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1973 | L'oiseau rare | Jean-Claude Brialy | |
| 1973 | Poil de carotte | Henri Graziani | |
| 1974 | The Mouth Agape | Maurice Pialat | |
| 1974 | Femmes au soleil | Liliane Dreyfus | |
| 1974 | Cockfighter | Monte Hellman | |
| 1974 | My Little Loves | Jean Eustache | |
| 1975 | The Story of Adele H. | François Truffaut | |
| 1976 | Maîtresse | Barbet Schroeder | |
| 1976 | Die Marquise von O... | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1976 | Des journées entières dans les arbres | Marguerite Duras | |
| 1977 | The Man Who Loved Women | François Truffaut | |
| 1977 | Change of Sex | Vicente Aranda | |
| 1977 | La vie devant soi | Moshé Mizrahi | |
| 1978 | The Green Room | François Truffaut | |
| 1978 | Days of Heaven | Terrence Malick | |
| 1978 | Goin' South | Jack Nicholson | |
| 1978 | Perceval le Gallois | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1979 | Love on the Run | François Truffaut | |
| 1979 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Robert Benton | |
| 1980 | The Blue Lagoon | Randal Kleiser | |
| 1980 | The Last Metro | François Truffaut | |
| 1982 | Still of the Night | Robert Benton | |
| 1982 | Sophie's Choice | Alan J. Pakula | |
| 1983 | Pauline at the Beach | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1983 | Confidentially Yours | François Truffaut | |
| 1984 | Places in the Heart | Robert Benton | |
| 1986 | Heartburn | Mike Nichols | |
| 1987 | Nadine | Robert Benton | |
| 1991 | Billy Bathgate | Robert Benton | |

#### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1971 | La Brigade des maléfices | Claude Guillemot | Episode "La créature" |

#### Documentary works

Short film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1959 | El Tomate | Fausto Canel | |
| 1959 | Cooperativas Agropecuarias | Fausto Canel | |
| 1960 | Gente en la playa | Himself | |
| 1966 | Une étudiante d'aujourd'hui | Éric Rohmer | |
| 1967 | La journée d'un journaliste | Himself | |
| 1971 | Le cochon aux patates douces | Barbet Schroeder | |
| 1971 | Maquillages | Barbet Schroeder | |
| 1971 | Sing Sing | Barbet Schroeder | |
| 1983 | L'Assemblea de Catalunya | Carlos Durán | With Juan Amorós |
| 1990 | Made in Milan | Martin Scorsese | |
Television
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1967 | Fermière à Montfaucon | Éric Rohmer | TV short |
| 1972 | Chroniques de France | Jacques Scandelari Max Gérard Jean-Daniel Simon | Episode "Chroniques de France N° 82" |
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1974 | General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait | Barbet Schroeder | |
| 1975 | The Gentleman Tramp | Richard Patterson | With Bruce Logan |
| 1977 | Beaubourg, centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou | Roberto Rossellini | |
| 1978 | Koko, le gorille qui parle | Barbet Schroeder | |
| 1988 | Imagine: John Lennon | Andrew Solt | |

### Director

Short film
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1950 | Una confusión cotidiana | Co-directed with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea |
Documentary short
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
| 1960 | Gente en la playa | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1960 | Ritmo de Cuba | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1967 | La journée d'un journaliste | Yes | No | No | |
| 1968 | Retour d'Henri Langlois à Paris | Yes | No | No | Co-directed with Bernard Eisenschitz |
Documentary film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
| 1960 | Escuelas rurales | Yes | No | No | |
| 1984 | Improper Conduct | Yes | Yes | No | Co-directed with Orlando Jiménez Leal |
| 1987 | Nadie escuchaba | Yes | No | Yes | Co-directed with Jorge Ulla |

## Awards and nominations

Academy Awards
| Year | Title | Category | Result |
| 1978 | Days of Heaven | Best Cinematography | Won |
| 1979 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Best Cinematography | Nominated |
| 1980 | The Blue Lagoon | Best Cinematography | Nominated |
| 1982 | Sophie's Choice | Best Cinematography | Nominated |
César Awards
| Year | Title | Category | Result |
| 1978 | The Green Room | Best Cinematography | Nominated |
| 1979 | Perceval le Gallois | Best Cinematography | Nominated |
| 1980 | The Last Metro | Best Cinematography | Won |
New York Film Critics Circle
| Year | Title | Category | Result |
| 1982 | Sophie's Choice | Best Cinematographer | Won |
| 1984 | Places in the Heart | Best Cinematographer | Nominated |