Benot Delhomme Director Of Photography
Benot Delhomme
Director of Photography
https://www.benoitdelhomme.com
Born in Paris, Benoît Delhomme spent most of his childhood in Cherbourg (in Normandy), and in his homemade darkroom experimented with black-and-white stills photography.
Between1980 and 1982, he studied cinematography at the Louis Lumière School in Paris under the inspirational tutelage of Cesar Chiabaud, who was director Robert Bresson’s favorite camera operator. In 1985, Mr. Delhomme worked as camera assistant to the legendary French cinematographer Bruno Nuytten on the eight-month back-to-back shoot of Claude Berri’s featuresJean de Florette and Manon des Sources, adapted from the Marcel Pagnol books, in Provence. In the years following, Mr. Delhomme worked on more than 40 short films, experimenting with cameras and cinematography.
In 1992, he shot his first feature film, with the Vietnamese first-time director Tran Ahn Hung, entirely on a soundstage in Paris;The Scent of Green Papaya won the Camera d’Or Award in its world premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival, subsequently receiving an Academy Award nomination in the foreign film category. Mr. Delhomme received a Camerimage nomination for his work. The director and cinematographer reteamed two years later to make Cyclo, which was shot on location in Saigon and won the top prize, the Golden Lion, at the Venice International Film Festival. The Saigon shoot spurred Mr. Delhomme to take up painting in addition to taking on feature shoots.
Two films with director Cedric Klapisch, When the Cat’s Away andFamily Resemblances, followed and were successful in France and internationally. Mr. Delhomme received a César Award (France’s Oscars equivalent) nomination for his work on Agnès Merlet’s Artemisia, starring Valentina Cervi.
Inspired by John Singer Sargent’s paintings, he shot David Mamet’s adaptation ofThe Winslow Boy. He collaborated twice with Mike Figgis and Benoît Jacquot, respectively, onThe Loss of Sexual Innocence and Miss Julie and onSade and Adolphe.
In 2000, Anthony Minghella invited Mr. Delhomme to work with him on a short art filmPlay, an adaptation of the Samuel Beckett play for Channel 4. Returning to features, he shot Tsai Ming-Liang’s Taiwanese filmWhat Time Is It Over There?, winning the Special Jury Prize for Cinematography at the Chicago Film Festival.
His subsequent features have included Michael Radford’sThe Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino; John Hillcoat’sThe Proposition, for which Mr. Delhomme won the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Cinematography, among other honors; Anthony Minghella’s Breaking and Entering; Mikael Hafström’s1408 and Shanghai; Mark Herman’sThe Boy in the Striped Pajamas; Hideo Nakata’sChatroom; Dito Montiel’sThe Son of No One, starring Channing Tatum and Mr. Pacino; and Mr. Pacino’s work-in-progressWilde Salome (a.k.a.Salomaybe).