Camerimage: Peter Biziou will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award

Cinematographer Peter Biziou, who won an Oscar and a BAFTA for the film directed by Alan Parker in 1988 Mississippi burning — to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 31st EnergaCamerimage International Film Festival, which returns to Turun, Poland in November.

Biziou’s credits include those of Peter Weir The Truman Showfor which he earned a further BAFTA nomination, and several films with Parker, including Bugsy Malone (shared with DP Michael Seresin) e Pink Floyd The Wall.

His other notable credits also include The life of Brian from Monty Pythondirected by Terry Jones; time bandits, directed by Terry Gilliam; Another country, by Brand Kanievska; AND In the name of the fatherby Jim Sheridan.

Born in Wales in 1944, Biziou’s family was evacuated during the Second World War. His father, Leon Bijou, was a cinematographer, special effects, animation professional and assistant director who worked with Richard Thorpe in 1952’s Ivanhoe.

After his return to post-war London, Biziou was educated at Paddington Secondary Technical School (renamed Quintin Kynaston School in 1969), where he mastered engineering, machining and technical drawing before entering the film world through animation. He produced a wide variety of animation rigs and scale models, and learned the basics of animated film work by assisting the company’s cameramen with lighting, lenses and cameras. In this way, he scrambled to shoot his own animation sequences.

In the mid-1960s, Biziou decided to start working as an independent artist, mainly lighting film sets of commissioned commercials and short films. This allowed him to work alongside renowned photographers who were taking their first steps in the film industry and allowed fledgling cinematographers to help them transform their photographic visions into moving images.

A burgeoning partnership with fashion photographer Robert Freeman led to an invitation for Biziou to do imagery on Freeman’s debut film, Secret World, with Jacqueline Bisset. Since his debut as a cinematographer had been well received, Biziou was commissioned with commercials, short films and documentaries. Because it allowed him to cultivate his modern approach to film set lighting, he received more challenging job offers.