American New Wave 25: Jody Lee Lipes

What do filmmakers Sean Durkin, Lance Edmands and Alistair Banks Griffin all have in common? Besides being future talents worth keeping tabs on and being featured on our American New Wave 25 list, they all use the same “ace” in their deck. Of all the people included on this list, Jody Lee Lipes needs no introduction. If your an art-house theatre patron, you’ve seen this award-winning cinematographer’s work in 2008 for Antonio Campos’ Afterschool and Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell. If you read Filmmaker Magazine, you’ve seen him be profiled in the 25 New Faces of 2009 issue. If you’re into docs – then he goes by the title of “director” as he gave us last year’s Hot Doc presented Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be The Same and the year before, he scripted and co-directed SXSW winning NY Export: Opus Jazz. If you’re a film journalist covering the film fest circuit this year, you’ve seen latest work in Lena Durham’s prize-winning Tiny Furniture and Alistair Banks Griffin’s Two Gates of Sleep.

Obviously his talent is a key reason as to why he hasn’t had much time off in the past couple of years, but the reason why Lipes is such an in-demand DP is due to his work ethic. As filmmaker Alistair Banks Griffin puts it “Lipes is well on his way to becoming one of the best cinematographers of his generation and has incredible intensity to the way he works. He refuses to ever walk away from a set up with a bad shot”. On slate, Lipes will be lensing Lance Edmands’ Bluebird, Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and Margaret Brown’s next documentary film.

Photo Credit: Joe Anderson