Biography and filmography

Néstor Almendros

Néstor Almendros Cuyás (30 October 1930 – 4 March 1992) was a Spanish cinematographer. One of the most highly appraised contemporary cinematographers, "Almendros was an artist of deep integrity, who believed the most beautiful light was natural light...he will always be remembered as a cinematographer of absolute truth...a true master of light".

Néstor Almendros Cuyás was born in Barcelona, Spain, but at 18 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.

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. 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 began his Hollywood career with Days of Heaven (1978), written and directed by Terrence Malick, who admired Almendros' work on 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.

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.

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.

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

Source: Article "Néstor Almendros" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Photos

Movies (64)

Working with François Truffaut: Nestor Almendros, Director of Photography

2009 · Self

Visions of Light

1992 · Self

Billy Bathgate

1991 · Director of Photography

A Movie Capital

1991 · Self

Made in Milan

1990 · Director of Photography

New York Stories

1989 · Director of Photography

Alekan, la lumière

1988 · Self

Nadine

1987 · Director of Photography

Nobody Listened

1987 · Director

Heartburn

1986 · Director of Photography

Places in the Heart

1984 · Director of Photography

Improper Conduct

1984 · Director, Writer

Confidentially Yours

1983 · Director of Photography

Pauline at the Beach

1983 · Director of Photography

Sophie's Choice

1982 · Director of Photography

Still of the Night

1982 · Director of Photography

The Last Metro

1980 · Director of Photography

The Blue Lagoon

1980 · Director of Photography

Kramer vs. Kramer

1979 · Director of Photography

Love on the Run

1979 · Director of Photography