Barry Ackroyd, BSC (born 12 May 1954) is an English cinematographer and director.[1] Ackroyd has frequently worked with directors Ken Loach and Paul Greengrass. He worked on Kathryn Bigelow's 2008 war film The Hurt Locker, and with Greengrass on the critically acclaimed 2013 biographical thriller Captain Phillips, the former earning him a BAFTA Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography. In 2014, Ackroyd became the president of the British Society of Cinematographers.

Barry Ackroyd
Born (1954-05-12) 12 May 1954 (age 70)
Oldham, Lancashire, England, UK
Occupation(s)Cinematographer and President of BSC
Known forThe Hurt Locker and Captain Phillips
Websitehttp://www.barryackroyd.com

Life and career

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Ackroyd was born in Oldham, England. He received a BAFTA nomination for Best Cinematography for The Lost Prince. His latest credits are on Ken Loach's award-winning feature, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Paul Greengrass's take on the 9-11 disaster, United 93, and the Kathryn Bigelow-directed Iraq War film, The Hurt Locker.[2]

Teamwork and group effort is the Loach modus operandi. Loach has denied his status as an auteur director. Unlike most directors who routinely overstate the importance of their personal achievements, Loach celebrates the contributions of his crew, such as frequent collaborator, cinematographer Barry Ackroyd.[3]

Film reviewer Jack Matthews of the New York Daily News remarked about the filmmaking behind The Wind That Shakes The Barley: "Beautifully shot, both in darkened homes and on the misty green Irish landscape by Loach's frequent cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, "Wind" has a you-are-there intensity and intimacy about it that make it nearly overwhelming."[4]

In 2016, he reunited with Greengrass for the fourth time for the fifth Bourne movie.

Filmography

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Television

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TV movies

Year Title Director
1987 Big George Is Dead Henry Martin
1996 Hillsborough Charles McDougall
1997 Bumping the Odds Rob Rohrer
2002 Sunday Dominic Savage
2003 The Lost Prince Stephen Poliakoff
Eroica Simon Cellan Jones
2005 Friends and Crocodiles Stephen Poliakoff
Gideon's Daughter
2010 The Special Relationship Richard Loncraine
2011 The Miraculous Year Kathryn Bigelow
2013 The Missionary Baltasar Kormákur

TV series

Year Title Director Notes
1993 Spender Ian Knox Episode "Retreat"
ScreenPlay Les Blair Episode "The Merrihill Millionaires"
1995–1996 Screen Two Tim Fywell
Michael Whyte
Episodes "Life After Life" and "Flowers of the Forest"
2012 The Newsroom Greg Mottola Episode "We Just Decided To"
2024 The Sympathizer Fernando Meirelles Episode "Give Us Some Good Lines"

Feature film

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Key
Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Title Director Notes
1991 Riff-Raff Ken Loach
1993 Raining Stones
1994 Ladybird, Ladybird
1995 Land and Freedom
1996 Carla's Song
Stella Does Tricks Coky Giedroyc
1997 Under the Skin Carine Adler
1998 My Name Is Joe Ken Loach
1999 The Lost Son Chris Menges
Beautiful People Jasmin Dizdar
Mauvaise passe Michel Blanc
2000 Bread and Roses Ken Loach
2001 Very Annie Mary Sara Sugarman
Dust Milcho Manchevski
The Navigators Ken Loach With Mike Eley
2002 Sweet Sixteen
2003 Os Imortais António-Pedro Vasconcelos
2004 Ae Fond Kiss... Ken Loach
2005 Love + Hate Dominic Savage
2006 The Wind That Shakes the Barley Ken Loach
United 93 Paul Greengrass
2007 Battle in Seattle Stuart Townsend
2009 The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow
Looking for Eric Ken Loach
2010 Green Zone Paul Greengrass
2011 Coriolanus Ralph Fiennes
2012 Contraband Baltasar Kormákur
2013 Captain Phillips Paul Greengrass
Parkland Peter Landesman
2015 Dark Places Gilles Paquet-Brenner
The Big Short Adam McKay
2016 Jason Bourne Paul Greengrass
The Last Face Sean Penn
2017 Detroit Kathryn Bigelow
2018 Outlaw King David Mackenzie
2019 Bombshell Jay Roach
2020 The Old Guard Gina Prince-Bythewood With Tami Reiker
2021 Sweet Girl Brian Andrew Mendoza
2022 Whitney Houston:
I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Kasi Lemmons
2024 The Old Guard 2 Victoria Mahoney Post-production

Short film

Year Title Director
1994 Fever Carine Adler
1997 The Butterfly Man Himself
1998 Amazing Grace Maeve Murphy
2012 I Missed My Mother's Funeral Ben Quinn
2013 Dr. Easy Jason Groves
Chris Haring
Richard Kenworthy
2022 Nicholas Brothers: Stormy Weather Michael Shevloff

Documentary works

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Short film

Year Title Director
1989 Lake Baikal: The Sacred Sea Irina Mishina

Film

Year Title Director
1990 Hunters and Bombers Hugh Brody
Nigel Markham
1991 The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver's Wife Nick Broomfield
1992 Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer
1995 Anne Frank Remembered Jon Blair

TV movies

Year Title Director Notes
1986 Inside the Labyrinth Desmond Saunders With Rafi Rafaeli and John Warwick
1989 The View from the Woodpile Ken Loach With Robin Probyn
Angkor Wat Under Siege Shari Robertson
1990 Inside the Khmer Rouge With Ned Johnston and Prasit Sangrungrueng
1992 Too White for Me Nick Broomfield
1997 Boogie Nights in Suburbia Edmund Coulthard

TV series

Year Title Director Notes
1988 40 Minutes Sam Organ Episode "Diary of a Frontliner"
1989 Dispatches Shari Robertson Episode "Return to Year Zero?"
Split Screen Ken Loach Episode "Time to Go"
1988–1989 Byline Marjorie Wallace
David Collison
Episodes "Whose Mind Is It Anyway?" and "Johnny and Alf Go Home"
1993 Nova Dave Duncan Episode "The Real Jurassic Park"
1996 Modern Times Ken Loach Episode "The Flickering Flame"
2003 The Blues Mike Figgis Episode "Red, White and Blues"

Awards and nominations

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Academy Awards

Year Category Title Result
2009 Best Cinematography The Hurt Locker Nominated

BAFTA Awards

Year Category Title Result
2006 Best Cinematography United 93 Nominated
2009 The Hurt Locker Won
2013 Captain Phillips Nominated

American Society of Cinematographers

Year Category Title Result
2009 Outstanding Cinematography The Hurt Locker Nominated
2013 Captain Phillips Nominated

Other awards

Year Title Award/Nomination
2009 The Hurt Locker Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography
Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated – Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated – Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated – National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated – St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography

References

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  1. ^ "Biography". Barry Ackroyd. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  2. ^ "National Film and Television School "Barry Ackroyd BSC"". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  3. ^ "Ken Loach" by Mike Robbins
  4. ^ New York Daily News, Jack Matthews "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" review quote. Archived 2007-06-28 at the Wayback Machine
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