Adam Arkapaw

Adam Arkapaw
Born	Bowral, Australia
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	2001–present
Spouse	Autumn Durald Arkapaw ​ ​ (m. 2015)​
Children	1
Website	www.arkapaw.com

Adam Arkapaw is an Australian cinematographer. He is best known for his work on the television series Top of the Lake and True Detective, for which he has won two Creative Arts Emmy Awards. He is also known for his collaborations with director Justin Kurzel, whom he worked with on Snowtown, Macbeth, and Assassin's Creed.

Early life

Arkapaw was born in Bowral, a New South Wales town south of Sydney, and attended Bowral High School.^[1] He studied at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts, graduating in 2006 with a Bachelor of Film and Television.^[2][3]

Career

In addition to numerous short films, Arkapaw photographed three Australian features over the next several years: Animal Kingdom (2010), Snowtown (2011), and Lore (2012).^[4] He received a nomination for the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography in 2010 for his work on Animal Kingdom and in 2011 he was named one of Variety magazine's "10 Cinematographers to Watch".^[1]

Arkawpaw next worked on Jane Campion's television miniseries Top of the Lake, which was filmed in New Zealand and broadcast in 2013. That year he won a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie.^[4] In 2014 he won his second Emmy Award, for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series, in recognition of his work on the HBO television series True Detective.^[3] True Detective was filmed in Louisiana and Arkapaw's cinematography received wide praise, especially for a six-minute single-take long take that was planned over months and took one and a half days to film.^[5]

Arkapaw was the cinematographer of the 2015 film Macbeth, directed by Justin Kurzel, with whom Arkapaw previously worked on Snowtown.^[2] He also photographed McFarland, USA, an American sports film released in 2015,^[6] and the drama film The Light Between Oceans. He collaborated with Kurzel for a third time on the action-adventure film Assassin's Creed, which was released in the United States in December 2016.^[7]

Personal life

He is married to American cinematographer Autumn Durald;^[8] the couple has one son, Aedan.^[9]

Filmography

Documentary films

Year	Title	Director
2007	We Will Be Remembered For This	David Schmidt
2010	Return to Gaza	Michael Weatherhead
	The Ball	Jessica Leski

Feature films

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2009	Blind Company	Alkinos Tsilimidos
2010	Animal Kingdom	David Michôd
2011	Snowtown	Justin Kurzel
2012	Lore	Cate Shortland
2015	McFarland, USA	Niki Caro
	Macbeth	Justin Kurzel
2016	The Light Between Oceans	Derek Cianfrance
	Assassin's Creed	Justin Kurzel
2019	Light of My Life	Casey Affleck
	The King	David Michôd
2022	The Chess Game	Will Taylor	With Rob White
2023	Magazine Dreams	Elijah Bynum

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2013	Top of the Lake	Jane Campion Garth Davis	7 episodes
2014	True Detective	Cary Fukunaga	Season 1
2015	Flesh and Bone	David Michôd	Episode "Bulling Through"
2024	Masters of the Air	Cary Fukunaga	Miniseries

Awards

Award	Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
AACTA Awards	2012	Best Cinematography	Snowtown	Nominated
	2013		Lore	Nominated
	2014	Best Cinematography in Television	Top of the Lake	Won
	2015	Byron Kennedy Award	Adam Arkapaw	Won
	2019	Best Cinematography	The King	Won
ASC Awards	2015	Spotlight Award	Macbeth	Won
Australian Film Institute Awards	2006	Outstanding Achievement in Short Film Screen Craft	End of Town	Nominated
	2010	Best Cinematography	Animal Kingdom	Nominated
British Independent Film Awards	2015	Best Technical Achievement	Macbeth	Nominated
Manaki Film Festival		Silver Camera 300		Won
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards	2013	Outstanding Cinematography	True Detective	Won
	2014	Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series		Won
Stockholm International Film Festival	2012	Best Cinematography	Lore	Won

References

1. Friend, David (11 February 2011). "Adam Arkapaw: Modus operandi is understated". Variety. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
2. Bailey, John (2 March 2014). "Let the good films roll". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
3. "Adam Arkapaw wins second Emmy Award". University of Melbourne. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
4. Bodey, Michael (16 September 2013). "Emmy for Australian cinematographer Adam Arkapaw". The Australian. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
5. Friedlander, Whitney (5 August 2014). "How Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw Captured 'True Detective'". Variety. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
6. Rocchi, James (4 February 2015). "'McFarland, USA' Review: Kevin Costner Goes the Distance in This True-Life Sports Tale". TheWrap. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
7. Kohler, Chris; Muncy, Julie. "Not a Gamer? Here's What the Assassin's Creed Film Trailer Means". Wired. Conde Nast. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
8. Tapley, Kristopher (5 January 2016). "Ryan Coogler on 'Creed,' Filmmaking as Journalism and the Need for Female Voices (Q&A)".
9. Autumn Arkapaw [@addp] (6 September 2021). "My boy | Aedan". Archived from the original on 4 December 2022 – via Instagram.

External links

• Adam Arkapaw at IMDb