For the 12th year, Angénieux, the world-renowned optical manufacturer and flagship of the French industry for
the last ninety years, will pay tribute to a leading name in photography during an exceptional evening
opened by Thierry Frémaux, Delegate General of the Cannes Film Festival and presented by French journalist
Charlotte Lipinska.
An official partner of the Cannes Film Festival since 2013, the Pierre Angénieux ceremony, is a unique event
during which world-leading image experts- without whom cinema would not exist – are highlighted and
celebrated. This year’s award will honour an Australian cinematographer.
Born on May 18, 1968, in Brisbane (Queensland, Australia), Dion Beebe is considered as one of the most talented cinematographers of his generation. He is known for his use of stylised, highly saturated colour palettes and his experimental approach to high-speed digital video. He has collaborated seven times with Rob Marshall, twice with Jane Campion, and twice with Michael Mann (Collateral and Miami Vice).
Winner of numerous awards over the past thirty years; he received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
and a BAFTA in the same category for his work on Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha in 2006.
Dion Beebe (ACS., ASC) succeeds Philippe Rousselot (AFC, ASC) in 2013, Vilmos Zsigmond (HSC, ASC) in 2014, Roger A. Deakins (BSC, ASC) in 2015, Peter Suschitzky (ASC) in 2016, Christopher Doyle
(HKSC) in 2017, Edward Lachman (ASC) in 2018, Bruno Delbonnel (AFC, ASC) in 2019, Agnès Godard (AFC) in 2021, Darius Khondji (AFC, ASC) in 2022, Barry Ackroyd (BSC) in 2023 and Santosh Sivan (I.S.C,
A.S.C) last year.
Like his predecessors Darius Khondji in 2022, Barry Ackroyd in 2023 and Santosh Sivan in 2024, Dion
Beebe will give a Masterclass on the morning of Thursday May 22, moderated by journalist Jordan Mintzer
(The Hollywood Reporter), in addition to the tribute that will be paid to him on Friday May 23.
Born in Australia, Dion Beebe moved to South Africa with his parents when he was 8 years old. He remembers
that at that time he was a regular at an arthouse cinema at the end of his street in Cape Town. Moreover, his
family, being avid cinema lovers, showed 16mm films every Saturday night at home. His perception of cinema
totally changed when, at the age of thirteen, he watched Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers. Deeply
impressed and even traumatised, he realised that cinema was not just an entertainment.
At that time, he was very interested in photography, thanks to his father, who was passionate about this art, and
thanks to his mother, a makeup artist for the press. His first influences came from photographers like Peter
Lindbergh, Guy Bourdin or Helmut Newton rather than cinematographers, who did incredible editorial work in
the French and Italian fashion magazines that he loved to buy. Photography gave him the taste of composition
and storytelling.
At eighteen, he entered a film school in Pretoria before returning to Australia to study at the Australian Film,
Television and Radio School in Sydney, graduating in 1989. During his studies, he trained as a cinematographer
on several student short films.
In 1992, he started as a cinematographer on the New Zealand feature film Crush, directed by Alison Maclean
and starring Marcia Gay Harden. The film was selected for the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
After shooting a few low-budget Australian and New Zealand films, he moved to Los Angeles in 1997 with his
wife, director Unjoo Moon, and worked on Mira Nair’s TV movie My Own Country, starring Naveen Andrews
and Glenne Headly. Thanks to director Jane Campion, he truly entered the Hollywood industry in 1999, working
on Holy Smoke, starring Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet. They worked together again in 2003 on the shooting
of In the Cut.
In 2002, he collaborated for the first time with Rob Marshall on Chicago. Although he had never worked on a
musical before, he had shot music videos, and his show reel caught Rob Marshall’s attention. The film was a
success and became the first musical in 34 years to win the Academy Award for Best Movie, along with awards
for Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and four technical Academy awards (editing, sound,
costumes and set design). This partnership continued with Memoirs of a Geisha in 2005, starring Zhang Ziyi,
Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh, for which Dion Beebe won the Academy Award and the BAFTA for Best
Cinematography. In 2005, they shot the TV movie Tony Bennett, an American Classic together, then Into the
Woods in 2014, Mary Poppins Returns in 2018 and The Little Mermaid in 2024.
Another key collaboration in Dion Beebe’s filmography is with Michael Mann, notably on two films that made
their mark thanks to the use of the ultra-sophisticated Thomson Viper digital camera: Collateral (2004), a nighttime thriller set in Los Angeles starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, and Miami Vice (2006), an adaptation of
the television series, starring Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx and Gong Li. From that moment, the digital age
transformed cinema and Dion Beebe became one of the most innovative cinematographers, capturing the city of
Los Angeles between dusk and dawn as it had never been seen before on screen.
During his career, Dion Beebe worked with prestigious actresses such as Kate Winslet (Holy Smoke by Jane
Campion, 1999), Melanie Griffith (Forever Lulu by John Kaye, 2000), Cate Blanchett (Charlotte Gray by
Gillian Armstrong, 2001), Emily Watson (Equilibrium by Kurt Wimmer, 2002), Renée Zellweger and
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago by Rob Marshall, 2002), Meryl Streep (Rendition by Gavin Hood, 2007; Into
the Woods by Rob Marshall, 2014), Reese Witherspoon (Rendition by Gavin Hood, 2007), Marion Cotillard
and Penelope Cruz (Nine by Rob Marshall, 2009), Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow Special by Doug Liman,
2014; Into the Woods, by Rob Marshall, 2014; Mary Poppins Returns by Rob Marshall, 2018), Rebecca
Ferguson and Charlotte Gainsbourg (The Snowman by Tomas Alfredson, 2017).
He also captured behind his lens actors such as Harvey Keitel (Holy Smoke by Jane Campion, 1999), Patrick
Swayze (Forever Lulu by John Kaye, 2000), Christian Bale (Equilibrium by Kurt Wimmer, 2002), Tom
Cruise (Collateral by Michael Mann, 2004; Edge of Tomorrow Special by Doug Liman, 2014), Colin Farrell
(Miami Vice by Michael Mann, 2006), Jake Gyllenhaal (Rendition by Gavin Hood, 2007), Daniel Day-Lewis
(Nine by Rob Marshall, 2009), Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn (Gangster Squad by Ruben
Fleischer, 2013), Michael Fassbender (The Snowman by Tomas Alfredson, 2017), Will Smith and Clive
Owen (Gemini Man by Ang Lee, 2019).
Dion Beebe is also highly prolific in the world of music videos and commercials, having shot projects for
Beyonce, Rihanna, Lana Del Rey, Arctic Monkeys and Tony Bennett as well as shooting award winning spots
for brands such as Burberry, Guinness, Apple, Victoria’s Secret, and BMW. He is currently finishing a film with
Antoine Fuqua, Michael, a biopic about Michael Jackson, and he is planning a new musical directed by Rob
Marshall.
Dion Beebe has been using Angénieux lenses for many years on most of his films.
In addition to paying tribute to an already established career of a director of photography, Angénieux
wants to highlight the promising work of a young talent in cinematography. This is why since 2018 the
ANGÉNIEUX SPECIAL ENCOURAGEMENT award is given to an upcoming talent in the field of
cinematograph
This year, Eunsoo Cho, a young South Korean cinematographer, will be given a special endowment allowing her to use optimal Angénieux technologies to capture the images of her next project. After the Estonian Kadri Koop (2024), the Egyptian Haya Khairat (2023), the Dutch Evelin Van Rei (2022), the Franco-Mexican Pamela Albarra
(2021), the Indian Modhura Palit (2019) and the Chinese Cecile Zhang (2018), Eunsoo Cho, will be able to benefit from Angénieux’s suppor throughout the year, just as her predecessors have done. A graduate of the Korean National University of Arts and the University Of Southern California School Of Cinematic Arts, she has shot numerous fiction and documentary shorts in Africa, Asia, and North America. Her work on The Law of Action and Reaction won her a cinematography award at the Kodak Student Competition (Asia).
➤ About Angénieux
Angénieux is world-renowned for its camera lenses. Recognized four times in Hollywood by the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1964, 1989 and 2009, and by the Society of Camera Operators in 2012, as
well as in 2014 by the British Society of Cinematographers in London, Angénieux lenses are a benchmark for
image professionals. They are used worldwide for cinema, TV dramas, music videos or commercials.
- Some examples of outstanding films released this year, shot with Angénieux lenses:
Conclave by Edward Berger, Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard, Anora by Sean Baker, The Substance by
Coralie Fargeat, I’m still here by Walter Salles and Gladiator 2 by Ridley Scott.
The history of the brand started 90 years ago in 1935, with the creation of the Pierre Angénieux Company. Since 1993, Angénieux has become a Thales Group brand.
Cinema enthusiast and genius inventor, Pierre Angénieux laid the foundations of the modern zoom lenses and ensured the continued success of his company, which has experienced an incredible destiny. Pierre Angénieux was not only interested in cinema: he also turned to photography, television, optronics, and medicine. Angénieux lenses have even been all the way to the moon! Chosen initially by NASA in the 1960s, they have since participated in different missions of the prestigious American organisation. They were aboard Apollo 11 and participated in the extraordinary success of the mission that, 50 years ago, showed the images of man’s first step on the Moon.
Published in 2019, the book “Angénieux and Cinema: From Light to Image” (Silvana Editoriale) retraces
through 270 lavishly illustrated pages, the incredible adventure of the Angénieux brand up to its most current challenges. The book is available in both English and French.
