Łukasz Żal
Łukasz Żal is a Polish cinematographer and director, best known for his work on the films Ida, Loving Vincent and Cold War.
Life and career
Żal has said that he "fell in love" with cinema at the age of 16, when he attended a course on filmmaking held at a local gymnasium in his home town of Koszalin, Poland. His interest in photography was sparked by a friend, who asked to use him as a subject and also showed him how to use a camera. He went on to study photography at the Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź, from which he graduated in 2007. Whilst there, he watched many films and decided to pursue a career as a cinematographer because of the "stronger emotional content" he observed in movies.When preparing to work on a film, Zal has stated that he reads though the script and tries "to find part of himself in the movie".
In 2019 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the British Royal Photographic Society, from whom he also received the annual Lumière Award.
Filmography
Feature Films| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Ref. |
| 2013 | Ida | Paweł Pawlikowski | With Ryszard Lenczewski | |
| 2015 | The Here After | Magnus von Horn | ||
| 2016 | Ikona | Wojciech Kasperski | Documentary | |
| 2017 | Loving Vincent | Dorota Kobiela Hugh Welchman | With Tristan Oliver | |
| 2018 | Dovlatov | Aleksei Alekseivich German | ||
| 2018 | Cold War | Paweł Pawlikowski | ||
| 2020 | I'm Thinking of Ending Things | Charlie Kaufman |
Short Films
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | Ref. |
| 2006 | World Champion | Himself | ||
| 2011 | Papparazzi | Piotr Bernas | Documentary Short | |
| 2013 | Joanna | Aneta Kopacz | Documentary Short | |
| 2013 | Arena | Piotr Bernas | Documentary Short | |
| 2013 | Left Side of the Face | Marcin Bortkiewicz | Documentary Short | |
| 2015 | What Went Down | Niall O'Brien | ||
| 2015 | Polish Legends: The Dragon | Tomasz Baginski | ||
| 2015 | Polish Legends: Twardowsky | Tomasz Baginski | - |