Chris Menges

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Christopher J. Menges^[1] BSC, ASC (born 15 September 1940) is an English cinematographer and film director. Trained as a documentary cameraman, he became a director of photography known for his work with Ken Loach, Neil Jordan, Stephen Frears, Roland Joffé and Stephen Daldry. He has won two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, for The Killing Fields (1984) and The Mission (1986). His feature directorial debut, A World Apart, won the Grand Prix at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.

Menges was born in Kington, Herefordshire in 1940, the son of the composer and conductor Herbert Menges.^[1][2] His paternal grandfather, George, was a German emigrant to the United Kingdom.^[1] He was introduced to filmmaking as a teenager by his neighbour, documentarian Alan Forbes, and worked as his assistant for several years.^[1][3]

Menges cites Roberto Rossellini, Italian neorealism, Free Cinema, and the Czechoslovak New Wave as influences.^[3]

Menges began his career in the 1960s as camera operator for documentaries by Adrian Cowell. From 1961 to 1962, he worked for CBC Television's documentary division under Allan King.^[1] In 1963, he joined ITV Granada's news programme World in Action, where he was a cameraman for conflict reporting, including the Vietnam War, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Angolan War of Independence, the Algerian War, and the Zanzibar Revolution.^[3]

Back in Britain, Menges was a camera operator for feature films including Poor Cow by Ken Loach and If.... by Lindsay Anderson. Kes, directed by Loach, was his first film as cinematographer. Menges was also behind the camera on Stephen Frears' first feature film Gumshoe in 1971.

After several documentaries and feature films, such as Black Beauty (1971), Bloody Kids (1978), The Game Keeper (1980), Babylon (1980) and Angel (1982), Menges became notable for more ambitious works, for which he was critically acclaimed.

In 1983, Menges received his first BAFTA nomination for the Bill Forsyth film Local Hero, and only a year later won his first Academy Award for the film The Killing Fields about the genocide in Cambodia. He continued his work with helmer Roland Joffe, and Menges won his second Oscar in 1986 with the historical drama The Mission. He also shot a television play titled Made in Britain, starring Tim Roth, in 1983.

In 1988, Menges made his directorial debut with A World Apart, a biopic based on the life of South African anti-apartheid activist Ruth First and Joe Slovo. This film was celebrated at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and won three major awards.^[4]

His second film as director, CrissCross with Goldie Hawn, received critical acclaim, but was a box-office flop. In 1996 he moved back behind the camera to shoot the award-winning films The Boxer (directed by Jim Sheridan) and Michael Collins. For the latter, he received his third Academy Award nomination in 1997.

Menges also made documentaries. In the early 1970s, he went to Burma with British film maker Adrian Cowell to shoot The Opium Warlords, a film about the drug trade. After the release of the documentary in 1974, the Burmese government was said to have put a price on their heads. Menges is mentioned in the book Conversations with Cinematographers by David A. Ellis, published by Scarecrow Press.

Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd credits Menges as an influence.^[1]

• Chris Menges at IMDb
• Chris Menges at BFI Screenonline
• Chris Menges at the Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers (archived)