Steven Poster

Steven Barry Poster, A.S.C, I.C.G. (born 1 March 1944) is an American cinematographer^[1] and photographer^[2] who is the former President of the International Cinematographers Guild.^[3][4][5] He is best known for his collaborations with Richard Kelly, including the director's 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko.

Career

Poster began his career as a creative assistant at 'The Film Group,' a commercial film production company based in Chicago, Illinois. After being promoted to director of photography due to his skill at lighting, he met Herschell Gordon Lewis and worked with him in various crew positions on a total of three films.^[1] Poster founded a production company with director Michael Mann and served as the cinematographer on numerous industrial and education films.^[1] He served as the second-unit director of photography on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Poster joined the American Society of Cinematographers in 1987, relocating to Hollywood in the process. He shot the iconic music video to Madonna's "Like a Prayer", as well as commercials directed by Ridley Scott and Kinka Usher. In 1988, he was nominated for the ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Releases for his work on Someone to Watch Over Me. Poster served as the President of the ASC between 2002-2003. In 2006, he received an Emmy nomination for Mrs. Harris.^[6] That same year, he was elected as the National President of the International Cinematographers Guild, a position he held until 2019.^[3]

Filmography

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1973	Another Saturday Night	Himself Mik Derks
1994	Nunzio's Second Cousin	Tom DeCerchio	Segment of Boys Life 2
1995	Celluloid Heroes	Gary A. Beaird Tony Dow	With Billy Beaird
2004	Tap Heat	Dean Hargrove
2011	Xelerate	Bill Duke
2018	The Boor	Jeannie Berlin

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1980	Blood Beach	Jeffrey Bloom
1981	Dead & Buried	Gary Sherman
1983	Spring Break	Sean S. Cunningham
	Strange Brew	Rick Moranis Dave Thomas
	Testament	Lynne Littman
1985	The New Kids	Sean S. Cunningham
	The Heavenly Kid	Cary Medoway
1986	Blue City	Michelle Manning
	The Boy Who Could Fly	Nick Castle	With Adam Holender
1987	Someone to Watch Over Me	Ridley Scott
1988	Aloha Summer	Tommy Lee Wallace
	Big Top Pee-wee	Randal Kleiser
1989	Next of Kin	John Irvin
1990	Rocky V	John G. Avildsen
1991	Life Stinks	Mel Brooks
1993	The Cemetery Club	Bill Duke
1997	RocketMan	Stuart Gillard
1998	Une chance sur deux	Patrice Leconte
2001	Donnie Darko	Richard Kelly
2002	Stuart Little 2	Rob Minkoff
2003	Daddy Day Care	Steve Carr
2006	Southland Tales	Richard Kelly
2009	Spread	David Mackenzie
	The Box	Richard Kelly
2010	Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore	Brad Peyton
2011	Flypaper	Rob Minkoff
2017	Amityville: The Awakening	Franck Khalfoun
TBA	Scared to Death	Paul Boyd

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1978	What Really Happened to the Class of '65?	James Sheldon	Episode "Mr. Potential"
1987	I'll Take Manhattan	Richard Michaels Douglas Hickox	2 episodes; With Larry Pizer
1998	American Experience	Richard P. Rogers	Episode "A Midwife's Tale"
2006	The Loop	Betty Thomas	Episode "Pilot"
2007-2012	Craft in America	Carol Sauvion Daniel Seeger Nigel Noble Hilary Birmingham	8 episodes
2008	Raising the Bar	Jesse Bochco	Episode "Pilot"
2013	Hemlock Grove	Eli Roth	Episode "Jellyfish in the Sky"
2020	Cine Chalom	Yossi Benavraham	Episode "EXTRAIT DU FILM "INCASSABLE" DE M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN... 2000"

TV movies

Year	Title	Director
1978	The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank	Robert Day
1979	The Night Rider	Hy Averback
	Beggarman, Thief	Lawrence Doheny
1981	Coward of the County	Dick Lowry
1982	Mysterious Two	Gary Sherman
1983	The Cradle Will Fall	John Llewellyn Moxey
1986	Courage	Jeremy Kagan
1992	The Bat, the Cat and the Penguin	Michael Meadows John Pattyson
1994	Roswell	Jeremy Kagan
1995	Present Tense, Past Perfect	Richard Dreyfuss
1996	Once You Meet a Stranger	Tommy Lee Wallace
1997	Color of Justice	Jeremy Kagan
2005	Mrs. Harris	Phyllis Nagy
2006	The Danny Comden Project	Robert Duncan McNeill
2013	Gutsy Frog	Mark A.Z. Dippé

Documentary works

Film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2001	The Oscar Legacy	David Haugland
2020	For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close	Heather Ross	With Simon Fanthorpe

Short film

Year	Title	Director
2013	Canon USA Commercial: Rhythm of Life	Dean Hargrove

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1990	Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Special	John Landis	TV special
2021	The Miles Davis Documentary	Christopher Wilkinson	TV movie

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1973	Cannes Film Festival	Short Film Palme d'Or	Another Saturday Night (Shared with Mik Derks)	Nominated
1987	American Society of Cinematographers	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography	Someone to Watch Over Me	Nominated
1994	CableACE Award	Best Cinematography	Roswell	Nominated
2005	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Cinematography	Mrs. Harris	Nominated

References

1. "STEVEN POSTER". www.cinematographers.nl. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
2. "Photos". www.edgeofconsciousness.com. Retrieved 2017-05-29.
3. "Local 600 - Home". www.icg600.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
4. "Steven Poster Re-Elected President of International Cinematographers Guild". The Hollywood Reporter. 27 April 2013. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
5. "Lewis Rothenberg Ousts Steven Poster as Cinematographers Guild President". Variety. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
6. "Steve Poster, ASC on "The Box"". www.tiffen.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.