Louie Schwartzberg is an award-winning cinematographer, director and producer whose notable career spans more than three decades providing breathtaking imagery for feature films, television shows, documentaries and commercials.
As a visual artist, Louie has created some of the most iconic and memorable film moments of our time. He is an innovator in the world of time-lapse, nature, aerial and “slice-of-life” photography – the only cinematographer in the world who has literally been shooting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week continuously for more than 30 years.
Louie is credited by many with pioneering the contemporary stock footage industry by founding Energy Film Library, a global company, which was acquired by Getty Images in 1997. Motion picture clients of his cinematic artistry include Sex in the City, The Bourne Ultimatum, Syriana, Crash, Men in Black and classics such as American Beauty, Koyaanisqatsi and E.T. among others.
Louie went on to found BlackLight Films, a creative production company specializing in producing original theatrical feature, large format films, HD and TV programming.
In 2010, Louie completed a feature length nature documentary narrated by Meryl Streep, Hidden Beauty. The film will be theatrically released worldwide under Walt Disney Pictures’ production banner, Disneynature. Wings of Life was released in France (March 2011) under the title Pollen and won the Roscar Award for Best Cinematography at the 2011 Wild Talk Africa Film Festival. The film was also an official selection at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival in October 2011.
Currently, Louie is developing Moving Art™, a vast digitally-accessible film library, which is the world’s first collection of moving images created specifically as fine art for digital displays, from giant flat-screens to handheld mobile devices, with imagery that celebrates every facet of life, mood and emotion.
He is also is in production with National Geographic to produce and direct Hidden Worlds, a 3D Imax film, slated for release in 2012.
Past projects included America’s Heart & Soul, a feature film distributed by Walt Disney Pictures; a series of HD shorts, Louie Films, for the launch of Buena Vista Home Entertainment’s Blu-Ray DVD releases; Chasing the Light, a one-hour documentary which aired nationally on PBS; Seasons of the Vine for Disney’s California Adventure Theme Park; and a 26-half hour series, America!, for The Hallmark Channel.
Louie is active in the TED community, having spoken at the TED 2011 conference in Long Beach, CA, TEDxSF and TEDxJH. He has also been an annual presenter at the Bioneers Conference in San Francisco.
His short films posted online through social media networks have topped 3 million views, with the viral video Gratitude topping 1.5 million views.
Louie was recognized as one of the top 70 Cinematographers for the On Film Kodak Salute Series. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Louie has won two Clio Awards for Best Environmental Broadcast Spot, an Emmy nomination for Best Cinematography for the Discovery Channel Special, Oceans of Air, and the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award for Walt Disney Pictures’ release, America’s Heart & Soul.
