First Films First

Tutors

Austria

CHRISTIAN BERGER

Austria\’s Christian Berger is one of the greatest cinematographers working today, best known for his collaborations with Michael Haneke. He also worked with such directors as Virgil Widrich, Terrence Malick, Luc Bondy, Wolfgang Glück, Stephen Gaghan, Amos Gitai, Peter Sehr and Marie-Noèlle, and János Szász.

For his work on The White Ribbon, he was nominated for an Oscar, and received numerous cinematography awards, including the national German and Austrian prizes, as well the awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the German Film Critics Association, and the US National Society of Film Critics.

Berger has invented a special lighting system, Cine Reflect , which he used to shoot Haneke\’s latest film Happy End. Perturbed by the over-use of light and camera technology, Berger created a system of reflectors which, based on lighting principles from industrial architecture, reflect light in a controlled manner. Productions that use the system require only one-tenth of the wattage associated with lighting regular shoots. 

Read more about this revolutionary system in this interview with Berger over at No Film School

Scroll to Top