Phedon Papamichael

The award-winning and Oscar-nominated cinematographer  PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL  was born in Athens and moved with his family to Munich, where he completed his studies at the Fine Arts in 1982. as a photojournalist, Phaedon moved to New York in 1983   and began moving into film.

His first short film, the black and white Spud, won him the Best Cinematography Award at the Cork Film Festival in Ireland. At the call of John Cassavetes he moved to Los Angeles and while continuing to work on short and experimental films, he began his career as a Director of Photography for Roger Corman, with whom he made seven feature films in two years. Phedon now has over forty-five films to his credit as Director of Photography, including the blockbusters When You Were Sleeping and Cool Runnings, as well as Phenomenon, all directed by Jon Turteltaub.

His credits include several critically acclaimed films such as Unstrung Heroes, directed by Diane Keaton, and Unhook the Stars, starring Gena Rowlands and Gerard Depardieu, and directed by Nick Cassavetes.

Other early credits include The Million Dollar Hotel, directed by Wim Wenders, which was selected as the opening film of the 2000 Berlinale and won the Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Bear and the Camera d’Or. Papamikhail also photographed the European co-production, 27 Missing Kisses, directed by Oscar-nominated director Nana Djordjadze, which premiered at Directors Fortnight in Cannes in 2000 and won the Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography. Both films received Camerimage nominations for Best Cinematography.

In 2001 Papamichael directed Moonlight Mile, directed by Brad Silberling, starring Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Holly Hunter, followed by Identity, directed by James Mangold, and the Oscar-nominated Sideways, directed by Alexander Payne.

His credits also include The Weatherman, directed by Gore Verbinski, starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine, and Walk the Line, directed by Mangold and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who won an Academy Award for her performance. Walk the Line also won the Golden Frog at Camerimage (President’s Award 2005), for Papapmichael’s work.

Papamichael also shot the acclaimed western 3:10 To Yuma, directed by James Mangold, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, and the blockbuster Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith. In 2008 he shot Oliver Stone’s W and then worked again with James Mangold on Knight and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

In 2011 Papamichael directed Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, which received four Academy Award nominations and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney, which was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. and the hit comedy This is 40, directed by Judd Apatow.

For his black and white work on the film Nebraska, Phedon was honored with Oscar, BAFTA and ASC nominations, winning the British Society of Cinematographers BSC Award for Best Direction of Photography in a Feature Film.

His fourth collaboration with Alexander Payne, Downsizing, starring Matt Damon and Christoph Waltz, opened the 2017 Venice Film Festival.

His most recent film, Ford vs Ferrari (aka Le Mans 66) received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.