Lula Carvalho

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Lula Carvalho
Born1977 (age 46–47)
OccupationCinematographer
Known for
  • RoboCop
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Lula Carvalho, ASC is a Brazilian cinematographer, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1977. His body of work includes the acclaimed features Elite Squad (2007) and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010), RoboCop (2014) and the blockbuster Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). As of 2022, Carvalho is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.[1] He is a resident of the United States.

Carvalho grew up on film sets, working with his father, the acclaimed cinematographer Walter Carvalho. He learned how to load film magazines for the camera department at age of 10, started working as a second camera assistant upon finishing high school and became a professional first photographer assistant at age of 20.

Carvalho pulled focus on over nineteen acclaimed Brazilian features, including City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles – nominated for 4 Oscars including an 76th Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2004; Behind the Sun, directed by Walter Salles; and Carandiru directed by Héctor Babenco.

During this time, Carvalho also worked at second units as a cinematographer and as a camera operator on features. He also completed cinematography and still photography classes at New York University and the School of Visual Arts in New York.

In 2005, Carvalho shot his first feature as a cinematographer, Incuráveis, directed by Gustavo Accioli. He went on to shoot Elite Squad, directed by José Padilha which won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival; A Festa da Menina Morta, directed by Matheus Natchergaele which was an official selection in Un Certain Regard at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival; December, directed by Selton Mello; Budapest, directed by Walter Carvalho along with three documentaries.

In 2008, Carvalho was awarded the Best Cinematography Prize by both the Brazilian Cinema Academy and the International Press Correspondents Association in Brazil (ACIE) for Elite Squad, which also led him to a nomination in the 2008 Camerimage Festival, in Polland. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, the follow-up to Elite Squad, and Carvalho was once again awarded the Best Cinematography Prize by both the Brazilian Cinema Academy and the International Press Correspondents Association in Brazil (ACIE), in 2011. In 2008 Carvalho shot the Argentinian Production Felicitas and was finalist for the Condor Award 2010 for that.

Carvalho's first US studio feature was MGM’s big budget reboot of the science fiction classic, Robocop in 2012. In 2013, he shot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in New York City for Paramount Pictures, Michael Bay, Platinum Dunes and director Jonathan Liebesman which was a huge hit at the box office in 2014. In 2014 Carvalho also shot the Netflix series Narcos in Colombia and after that, in 2016, shot the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

Carvalho was also shooting features in Brazil such as Artificial Paradise, Eden and in 2013, Carvalho won the ABC (Association of the Brazilian Cinematographers) Award for the movie A Wolf at the Door, an internationally awarded feature film and again won the ABC Award for Bingo in 2015. In 2016 shot Seven Days in Entebbee for Working Title and Participant.

In 2017, Carvalho shot episodes of the Netflix's Narcos Mexico, The Mechanism and the Brazilian documentary Police Killing which won the first prize of It Is All True Film Festival, participated in the IDFA festival and was short listed for the Academy’s best documentary.

In 2019 shot the non fictional Amazon Series All Or Nothing following the Brazilian national soccer team throughout its participation at the South American Cup.

His most recent work was in the second season of HBOs The Gilded Age coming back this fall.

At 45 years old, Carvalho has worked as a cinematographer in over 100 titles, including features films, TV series, documentaries, commercials and shorts plus 26 other films in the camera department. He has been awarded more than 20 prizes for best cinematography in festivals around the world.

He is now based in Brooklyn, New York.

Filmography[edit]

Short films[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
2004 Uma Estrela Pra Ioiô Bruno Safadi
A Última Fábrica Felipe Nepomuceno
2007 Trópico das Cabras Fernando Coimbra
2014 Useless Landscape José Padilha Segment of Rio, I Love You
2015 Blume Felipe Nepomuceno
2019 Estrondo
2020 Cidade Inerte Vellas
TBA Buyback Jared Goodman

Feature films[edit]

Year Title Director
2005 Incuráveis Gustavo Acioli
2007 Elite Squad José Padilha
Meu Nome é Dindi Bruno Safadi
2008 A Festa da Menina Morta Matheus Nachtergaele
December Selton Mello
2009 Budapest Walter Carvalho
Felicitas María Teresa Costantini
2010 Elite Squad: The Enemy Within José Padilha
2011 Juras Eternas 2 Luiz Henrique Rios
Rosane Svartman
Estamos Juntos Toni Venturi
A Hora e a Vez de Augusto Matraga Vinicius Coimbra
2012 Artificial Paradises Marcos Prado
À Beira do Caminho Breno Silveira
2013 Éden Bruno Safadi
A Wolf at the Door Fernando Coimbra
2014 RoboCop José Padilha
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Jonathan Liebesman
2016 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Dave Green
2017 Bingo: The King of the Mornings Daniel Rezende
2018 Entebbe José Padilha
10 Segundos para Vencer José Alvarenga Jr.

Documentary films[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
2006 Moacir Arte Bruta Walter Carvalho
Fabricando Tom Zé Décio Matos Júnior
2009 Domingos Maria Ribeiro With Manuel Águas
2010 Secrets of the Tribe José Padilha With Reynaldo Zangrandi
2011 Carta Para o Futuro Renato Martins Also producer
2012 Raul - O Início, o Fim e o Meio Walter Carvalho
Leonardo Gudel
2017 Um Filme de Cinema Walter Carvalho With Bacco Andrade, Pablo Baião,
Jacques Cheuiche and Pedro von Krüger
2018 Auto de Resistência Himself
Natasha Neri
Eduardo Galeano Vagamundo Felipe Nepomuceno With Breno Cunha, Guga Millet and Pedro von Krüger

Documentary shorts

Year Title Director Notes
2001 Atrocidades Maravilhosas Himself
Renato Martins
Pedro Peregrino
2006 Brasil Felipe Nepomuceno
2013 O Sonho de Ser Camisa 10 Pedro von Krüger With Jacques Cheuiche
2014 Caetana Felipe Nepomuceno
Pedro von Krüger

Television[edit]

Year Title Director Notes
2006 Estúdio 66
2011 Força-Tarefa José Alvarenga Jr.
Rogério Gomes
2 episodes
Falcón Pete Travis Episode "The Blind Man of Seville"
2015 Narcos José Padilha
Guillermo Navarro
Andrés Baiz
Fernando Coimbra
8 episodes
2018 The Mechanism José Padilha Episode "Lava Jato"
2020 Narcos: Mexico Andrés Baiz Episode "Salva El Tigre"
26 Poemas Hoje
2022 The Gilded Age Sonja Warfield 5 episodes

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Members". American Society of Cinematographers. Retrieved 22 December 2018.

External links[edit]