Néstor Almendros

Néstor Almendros
Néstor Almendros
Born	Néstor Almendros Cuyás; 30 October 1930; Barcelona, Spain
Died	4 March 1992 (aged 61); New York City, U.S.
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Cinematographer
Organization	American Society of Cinematographers
Awards	Academy Award for Best Cinematography; César Award for Best Cinematography;

Néstor Almendros Cuyás, ASC (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".^[1]

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.^[2] In 1979, Almendros won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Days of Heaven.^[3]

Almendros received three further Academy Award nominations for his work on Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), The Blue Lagoon (1980) and Sophie's Choice (1982),^[4] 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.^[5]

In 1980, Almendros won the César Award for François Truffaut's The Last Metro.^[6]

Death

In 1992, Néstor Almendros died of AIDS-related lymphoma in New York City at the age of 61.^[7]^[8]^[9]

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
	My Night at Maud's	Éric Rohmer
	The Gun Runner	Richard Compton	With Arch Archambault
1970	The Wild Child	François Truffaut
	Paddy	Daniel Haller	Uncredited
	Bed and Board	François Truffaut
	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
	Femmes au soleil	Liliane Dreyfus
	Cockfighter	Monte Hellman
	My Little Loves	Jean Eustache
1975	The Story of Adele H.	François Truffaut
1976	Maîtresse	Barbet Schroeder
	Die Marquise von O...	Éric Rohmer
	Des journées entières dans les arbres	Marguerite Duras
1977	The Man Who Loved Women	François Truffaut
	Change of Sex	Vicente Aranda
	La vie devant soi	Moshé Mizrahi
1978	The Green Room	François Truffaut
	Days of Heaven	Terrence Malick
	Goin' South	Jack Nicholson
	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
	Maquillages
	Sing Sing
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		Nominated
1980	The Blue Lagoon		Nominated
1982	Sophie's Choice		Nominated

César Awards

Year	Title	Category	Result
1978	The Green Room	Best Cinematography	Nominated
1979	Perceval le Gallois		Nominated
1980	The Last Metro		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

References

^ "www.cinematographers.nl". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
^ Almendros 1986
^ "IMDbPro Official Site | Start Your Free Trial". Retrieved 2011-03-01.
^ "Néstor Almendros Awards". imdb.com. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
^ "Great Moments NESTOR ALMENDROS: THE INTERNATIONAL CINéASTE". sffs.org. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
^ César Award for Best Cinematography
^ Levine, Suzanne Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fictions, University of Wisconsin Press 2001 p376
^ William H. Honan (5 March 1992). "Nestor Almendros, Cinematographer, Dies at 61". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
^ Burt A. Folkart (5 March 1992). "Nestor Almendros, 61; Cinematographer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 December 2013.

External links

Néstor Almendros at IMDb

[1] "www.cinematographers.nl". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2011-03-01.

[Almendros-2] Almendros 1986

[3] "IMDbPro Official Site | Start Your Free Trial". Retrieved 2011-03-01.

[4] "Néstor Almendros Awards". imdb.com. Retrieved 2011-03-01.

[5] "Great Moments NESTOR ALMENDROS: THE INTERNATIONAL CINéASTE". sffs.org. Retrieved 2011-03-01.

[6] César Award for Best Cinematography

[7] Levine, Suzanne Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fictions, University of Wisconsin Press 2001 p376

[8] William H. Honan (5 March 1992). "Nestor Almendros, Cinematographer, Dies at 61". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2013.

[9] Burt A. Folkart (5 March 1992). "Nestor Almendros, 61; Cinematographer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 December 2013.

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