Sean Bobbitt
{{Short description|American-born British cinematographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sean Bobbitt
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Sean Francis Bobbitt
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|11|29}}
| birth_place = Corpus Christi, Texas
| nationality = British, American
| other_names =
| years_active = 1988-present
}}
Sean Francis Bobbitt, B.S.C. (born 29 November 1958) is an American-born British cinematographer,{{cite web|title=Sean Bobbitt|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0090312/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=4 March 2014}}{{better source needed|date = March 2021}} known for his collaborations with directors Steve McQueen and Nia DaCosta.
He earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Early life
Sean Bobbitt was born in Corpus Christi, Texas on 29 November 1958.
After his family moved to the UK, he went to school at St George’s College, Weybridge.
Career
Bobbitt started his career as a news and documentary cameraman, a role which took him to the most conflicted spots of the globe.
In 2008, Bobbitt worked with artist-turned-director Steve McQueen on British film Hunger, a hard-hitting film about the Northern Irish hunger striker, Bobby Sands. With this film Bobbitt, McQueen, editor Joe Walker and actor Michael Fassbender formed a collaborative award-winning team that have gone on to make a further two films, Shame and 12 Years a Slave. Bobbitt won a BIFA in 2008 for his work on Hunger. He was again nominated in 2011 for Shame, starring Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan alongside Fassbender. In 2012, Bobbitt won the Carlo Di Palma European Cinematographer of the Year Award at the European Film Awards for his work on Shame.{{cite web|url=http://www.casarotto.co.uk/news/joe-walker-and-sean-bobbitt-are-awarded-for-their-work-on-shame-at-this-years-european-film-awards-17229|title=Joe Walker and Sean Bobbitt are awarded for their work on Shame}}
In 2011, Bobbitt worked on the pilot of HBO's acclaimed series Game of Thrones. The following year, Bobbitt completed filming on The Place Beyond the Pines, which stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta, a Neil Jordan film starring Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton and Jonny Lee Miller called Byzantium, and he concluded five years of working on Michael Winterbottom drama-film Everyday. In early 2013, he completed work on Oldboy, the Spike Lee-directed American remake of the 2003 South Korean film of the same name. The end of 2013 saw the release of 12 Years a Slave, for which he received multiple cinematography award nominations, and which ultimately won the coveted Best Picture Award at the 2014 Oscars.
Over the next few years, he worked on Kill the Messenger with Jeremy Renner, Rock the Kasbah with Bill Murray, Queen of Katwe with David Oyelowo, On Chesil Beach with Saoirse Ronan, Stronger with Jake Gyllenhaal. In 2018, he collaborated with McQueen again on heist movie Widows.
In 2019, he shot Judas and the Black Messiah for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The film was released on HBO Max in 2021, having been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Bobbitt filmed The Marvels, directed by Nia DiCosta, and in 2024 he completed filming on 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple, also with DiCosta.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Director ! Notes |
|---|
| 1999
| |
| 2001
| Tom Hunsinger | |
| 2002
| |
| rowspan=2|2006
| Cargo | Clive Gordon | |
| The Situation
| |
| rowspan=2|2007
| Gareth Lewis | |
| Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution
| |
| 2008
| Hunger | |
| 2010
| Debs Gardner-Paterson | |
| rowspan=2|2011
| Shame | Steve McQueen | |
| Hysteria
| |
| rowspan=3|2012
| Everyday | Michael Winterbottom | With Annenarie Lean-Vercoe, James Clark, |
| The Place Beyond the Pines
| |
| Byzantium
| |
| rowspan=2|2013
| Steve McQueen | |
| Oldboy
| |
| 2014
| |
| 2015
| |
| 2016
| |
| rowspan=2|2017
| |
| Stronger
| |
| 2018
| Widows | Steve McQueen | |
| rowspan=2|2020
| Dominic Cooke | |
| The Rhythm Section
| |
| 2021
| |
| 2023
|rowspan=3|Nia DaCosta | |
| 2025
| Hedda | Post-production |
| 2026
| 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple | Post-production |
Documentary film
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Director |
|---|
| 2010
| Crack House USA |
| 2012
| Trashed | Candida Brady |
=Television=
Miniseries
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Director ! Notes |
|---|
| 1994
|rowspan=2|Documentary series |
| 1998 |
| 2003
| Episodes "The Knight's Tale" and "The Man of Law's Tale" |
| 2004
| The Long Firm | |
| 2008
| |
| 2009
| David Evans | |
| 2016
| Codes of Conduct | |
TV movies
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Director |
|---|
| rowspan=2|2001 |
| Sweet Revenge |
| 2002 |
| 2003
| Jon Sen |
TV series
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Director ! Note |
|---|
| 2002
| Spooks | Episodes "One Last Dance" and "Traitor's Gate" |
Awards and nominations
References
{{Notelist}}
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0090312|Sean Bobbitt}}
- Interview with [http://brightlightsfilm.com/collaborators-cinematographer-sean-bobbitt-on-working-with-director-steve-mcqueen-on-12-years-a-slave-and-more/ Bright Lights Film Journal]
{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for Sean Bobbitt
| list =
{{European Film Award for Best Cinematographer}}
{{Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography}}
{{St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobbitt, Sean}}
Category:People from Corpus Christi, Texas
Category:American cinematographers
Category:British cinematographers
Category:European Film Award for Best Cinematographer winners