PETER BIZIOU WITH EnergaCAMERIMAGE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Wednesday July 19th, 2023

Peter Biziou, BSC, is that rare kind of cinematographer that has garnered universal acclaim among his co-workers for his professionalism and the ability to make an impact on the production while abiding by the director’s cues and respecting his vision. Having won an Oscar® for Best Cinematography among other prestigious awards, he has become one of the most distinguished British cinematographers in history. In November 2023, he’ll grace Toruń with his presence to receive 31^st EnergaCAMERIMAGE Lifetime Achievement Award.

Peter Biziou was born on August 8^th, 1944 in Bangor, Caernarvonshire county, Wales. His family had been evacuated therein during the Second World War. Since childhood, he was surrounded by the world of cinema thanks to his father, Leon Bijou, cinematographer, special effects & animation, and assistant director who worked with Richard Thorpe on Ivanhoe (1952) and cinematographer with Adrian Lyne on Foxes (1980).

Following his return to post-war London, Peter Biziou spent his course of study at Paddington Secondary Technical School (renamed Quintin Kynaston School in 1969).  There, young Peter became proficient in engineering, machining, and technical drawing, which proved very useful in the subsequent years of his budding career as a cinematographer. Being raised by a single father, he accompanied his parent to the production studios where he could observe and learn about the complicated process of film creation in person. Peter also lent a hand to his dad in his modest workshop, helping him piece together short stop-motion animations and gradually kindling his love of cinema.

Peter Biziou
(photo by Jill Furmanovski / Peter Biziou’s private archive)

Having completed his education, Peter Biziou began to stand on his own two feet career-wise. Looking to find his way into the film industry, he had persistently written to a particular company in Soho’s Wardour Street, specializing in animation. Although the company did not have a position for him at that time, they kindly invited Peter Biziou to walk around and see a few of their departments. When they walked through the machine shop that was not being used, the studio’s manager was impressed by Biziou's knowledge about all the metal and wood lathes gathered there and offered him a job anyway. There, he produced a broad spectrum of animation rigs and scaled models, and learnt the ropes of the animation film work by assisting company cameramen with the lighting, lenses, and cameras. In that way, he climbed his way up to shoot his own animation sequences.

Despite that promotion, in mid-sixties Peter Biziou decided to start working as an independent artist, primarily lighting film sets of commissioned commercials and shorts. That enabled him to work alongside renowned photographers who were taking their first steps in the film industry and gladly allowed young, fledgling cinematographers to help them turn their photographic visions into moving picture reality. Time spent on commercial sets greatly influenced his cinematographic style by fostering his innate intuition and his courage to implement innovation. That in turn made him successfully complement Directors’ ideas on set. He worked with the likes of Robert Freeman, Len Fulford, Bob Brooks, Terence Donovan, John Swannell, Frank Budgen, and many others.

The burgeoning collaboration with eminent fashion photographer, Robert Freeman, brought in an invitation for Peter Biziou to be in charge of the visuals in his fiction film debut, Secret World, starring Jacquline Bisset. Given that his debut as a cinematographer had been well-received, Peter Biziou got commissioned for commercials, shorts, videoclips, and documentaries. As it enabled him to cultivate his modern approach to lighting film sets, he got more and more challenging and exciting job offers.

Mississippi Burning, Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe
(photo by David Appleby / Peter Biziou’s private archive)

 Peter Biziou’s outstanding work at the set of Another Country (1984) directed by Marek Kanievska brought him critical acclaim and the award for Best Artistic Contribution at Cannes Film Festival. However, it was his collaboration with Alan Parker (director and long-time associate) that ushered in several joint productions and brought him international recognition. Together, they produced short forms, like Our Cissy (1974) and Footsteps (1974), and famous feature films: Bugsy Malone (1976, joint cinematographic work with Michael Seresin), Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982), The Road to Wellville (1994), and most importantly Mississippi Burning (1988) that got Peter Biziou the  Oscar® for Best Cinematography. That film also earned a mention in ‘ASC List of 100 Milestone Films in Cinematography of the 20^th Century’, which includes productions that forward the development of the craft and inspire future generations of cinematographers.

On the set of Nine ½ Weeks, Kim Basinger and Peter Biziou
(photo by Barry Wetcher / Peter Biziou’s private archive)

Professional attainments of Peter Biziou include a co-operation with Monthy Python crew when producing Life of Brian (1979, dir. Terry Jones) and with director Terry Gilliam on Time Bandits (1981). The public fell in love with his evocative visuals in the controversial Nine ½ Weeks by Adrian Lyne (1986), and then watching Unfaithful (2002) rekindled that feeling. He also worked his magic behind the camera on the set of A World Apart (1987), contributing to the success of another outstanding cinematographer, Chris Menges whose directorial debut was awarded at Cannes Film Festival. Peter Biziou’s excellent rapport grew even more thanks to highly-esteemed In the Name of the Father (1993) by Jim Sheridan, and the alive with light, hyperrealistic rendition of the isolated world in The Truman Show (1998, dir. Peter Weir).

The poignant drama In the Name of the Father, telling a true story of one of the most disastrous blunders in the history of the British law enforcement, was brilliantly recorded in a manner that allowed to lead with a universal narration about perseverance, faith, and an individual’s struggle against the soulless red-tape machinery. Peter Biziou subtly underscored the tragic position that the protagonists found themselves in, while not overloading the picture with his media of expression, letting Jim Sheridan portray the story in a measured and thought-provoking way.

In The Truman Show, he managed to impeccably capture the dreamlike un-reality that constitutes the protagonist’s everyday life. The director, Peter Weir, remembers him as a focused professional, always carefully selecting the cameras and digital apparatuses to perfect his means of expression. Moreover, to achieve the effect of being watched and followed, Peter Biziou used gobos placed on the lens and wide-angle lens popular in commercials to deliver the world of Truman Burbank, superbly portrayed by Jim Carrey, to the audiences before the screen.

On the set of The Truman Show, among others Peter Biziou and Ed Harris
(fot. Melinda Sue Gordon ©Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.)

Peter Biziou has also lensed such features as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990, directed by Tom Stoppard), City of Joy (1992, dir. Roland Joffé), Damage (1992, dir. Louis Malle), Richard III (1995, dir. Richard Loncraine), Ladies in Lavender (2004, dir. Charles Dance) or the last theatrical film of his career, Derailed (2005, dir. Mikael Håfström).

Peter Biziou’s work on Mississippi Burning between 1988 and 1989 has brought him not only the Oscar® for Best Cinematography, but also the nominations to the ASC Award (American Society of Cinematographers), the BSC Award (British Society of Cinematographers) and the BAFTA Film Award in the same category. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has also nominated him for creating an exceptional visual form for The Truman Show, while BSC, throughout the years nominating and mentioning him on numerous occasions, awarded him with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Peter Biziou has also won at Cannes Film Festival Award for the Best Artistic Contribution, for Another Country. His Richard III, shot almost a decade later, was nominated to the CAMERIMAGE Golden Frog in the Main Competition.

Therefore we feel very proud and happy that Peter Biziou has agreed to accept our honorary Lifetime Achievement Award and will visit us in Toruń, during the upcoming 31^st EnergaCAMERIMAGE. His visit will be also an occasion to present the review of selected films from his body of work. We cordially invite you to this event.

text author: Magdalena Sobolewska
© EnergaCAMERIMAGE