Brian Tufano obit

Renowned UK cinematographer Brian Tufano dies aged 83

 

He was not on the list.

Brian Tufano, a legendary UK cinematographer whose works included Trainspotting and Billy Elliot, has died.

His career spanned over five decades, during which he nurtured the talents of numerous debut directors and was at the forefront of the boom of UK filmmaking of the 1990s.

Born in London in 1939, Tufano began working at the BBC’s Gainsborough Studios as a projectionist in 1956. He then worked as a projectionist at the BBC at Ealing Studios, where the film department was based, eventually working his way up from a trainee assistant to a cameraman in 1963.

Tufano worked at the BBC for 21 years, collaborating with multiple directors including Jack Gold, Ken Russell and Alan Parker, who worked with him on the BBC TV movie The Evacuees in 1975.

After the BBC, Tufano had a role as an additional photographer on Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and in the 1990s worked on a series of groundbreaking films with Danny Boyle whom he had met at the BBC. Together they made Boyle’s feature debut Shallow Grave in 1994, which led to their further work in Trainspotting in 1996 and A Life Less Ordinary in 1997.

Tufano also supported other rising directors, working on Franc Roddam’s Quadrophenia (1979), Damien O’Donnell’s East is East (1999), Menhaj Huda’s Jump Boy (1999) and Stephen Daldry’s Billy Elliot (2000) among others.

From 2003 to 2016, Tufano was head of cinematography at the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) and continued as a visiting tutor until recently. At the NFTS, he fostered a new generation of cinematographers, and his students included Charlotte Bruus Christensen (The Girl on the Train, Far From the Madding Crowd, A Quiet Place, Black Narcissus) and Vanessa Whyte (Ted Lasso, All Creatures Great and Small, Murdered For Being Different).

During the course of his career, Tufano received several accolades including the Bafta for outstanding contribution to film and television in 2001. He was also the recipient of the special jury award for outstanding contribution to independent film from the British Independent Film Awards in 2002. At the British Society of Cinematographers, he won the BSC Arri John Alcott Memorial Award in 2015 and was honoured with a lifetime achievement award in 2020.

NFTS director Jon Wardle said: “Brian was a valued colleague and friend and I’ll always cherish my memories of working with him. I was in awe of him and when I first joined the National Film and Television School he was always so generous, supportive and kind.

”He cared passionately about film, the creative process, the school and its students and during his time with us he nurtured a generation of world class cinematographers. He will be remembered with great fondness and will be missed by us all at the NFTS.”

Bafta Scotland paid tribute on Twitter and said: “We are saddened by this news. Cinematographer Brian Tufano shot some of Scotland’s most iconic films: Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and Late Night Shopping.”

East is East director O’Donnell simply wrote: “He was brilliant.”

Tufano died on January 14, 2023. The cause of death has not been revealed.

He is survived by his wife and daughter.

 

Filmography

Year     Title            Director           Notes

1966    A Few Castles in Spain            Kevin Billington         

1967    Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World            Ken Russell 

1968    The Big Switch  Pete Walker

1969    Out of the Unknown            Peter Cregeen            Series 3, Episode 13: Get Off My Cloud

1969    Take Three Girls            John Matthews            Series 1, Episode 2: Avril: Devon Violets

1970    Thirty-Minute Theatre            Michael Tuchner            Series 5, Episode 22: All My Own Army

1971    The Search for the Nile      Fred Burnley TV mini-series

1971    The Lie            Alan Bridges

1976    Three Men in a Boat            Stephen Frears           

1978    The Sailor's Return            Jack Gold    

1979            Quadrophenia  Franc Roddam          

1981    Riding High     Ross Cramer

1982    The Wall     Robert Markowitz       

1982    Blade Runner Ridley Scott            Additional Photographer

1983    The Lords of Discipline            Franc Roddam          

1984            Dreamscape     Joseph Ruben 

1988    War Party    Franc Roddam          

1989            Windprints       David Wicht  

1993    Mr. Wroe's Virgins            Danny Boyle   TV mini-series; first collaboration with Boyle

1994            Middlemarch            Anthony Page            BAFTA nomination

1994    Shallow Grave   Danny Boyle  

1994            Common As Muck            Metin Hüseyin            Series 1, Episode 1–3

1995    The Choir            Ferdinand Fairfax            TV mini-series

1996            Trainspotting    Danny Boyle  

1996    Silent Witness            Harry Hook, Mike Barker, Noella Smith    Series 1, Episode 1-6

1996    True Blue            Ferdinand Fairfax        

1996    Element of Doubt            Christopher Morahan  

1997    The Life of Stuff            Simon Donald

1997    A Life Less Ordinary            Danny Boyle  

1998    What Rats Won't Do            Alastair Reid    

1999    East is East      Damien O'Donnell        

1999    Virtual Sexuality            Nick Hurran 

1999    Women Talking Dirty            Coky Giedroyc         

1999    Tube Tales    Various            Alongside Sue Gibson and David Johnson

1999    Jump Boy      Menhaj Huda    First collaboration with Huda

2000    Billy Elliot            Stephen Daldry          

2001    Late Night Shopping            Saul Metzstein         

2001    Last Orders Fred Schepisi           

2002    Once Upon a Time in the Midlands            Shane Meadows        

2006            Kidulthood      Menhaj Huda   

2007    I Could Never Be Your Woman            Amy Heckerling       

2008    Alien Love Triangle            Danny Boyle  

2008            Adulthood        Menhaj Huda   

2008    My Zinc Bed            Anthony Page 

2010    Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll  Mat Whitecross      

2011            Everywhere and Nowhere            Menhaj Huda   

2011            Gymnast            Anthony Wonke