MATTHIAS GRUNSKY, bvk

Matthias Grunsky is an internationally working Cinematographer.

His career started as camera assistant on movies in Austria and Germany, where he has learnt from cinematographers as Lee Daniel on Richard Linklater's BEFORE SUNRISE (1995) or from Helmut Pirnat on Franz Antel's DER BOCKERER II (1996). He then absolved the 2 year cinematography program at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

Grunsky's first feature length movie as cinematographer was FUNNY HA HA (2002) for director Andrew Bujalski, with whom he continued to work on his following films.

Especially with Bujalski he sometimes works with unconventional cameras. They have used black and white video cameras with video tubes on the movie COMPUTER CHESS, for which Grunsky got nominated for Best Cinematography at the Independent Spirit Awards 2014. On the movie THERE THERE (2022), which was shot remotely under Covid restrictions, Grunsky and director Bujalski employed iPhone cameras.

His work has garnered critical acclaim from THE NEW YORKER, L.A. TIMES, CAHIERS DU CINEMA, FILMMAKER MAGAZINE and VARIETY for his "brave camera work", "intimate, unshowy lensing", "some of the most endearingly daring black and white imagery in recent years" and for his "unique shot design". For the musical film SAINTS REST he won Best Cinematography at the Midwest Independent Film Festival 2019 and for the history drama DEFIANCE. THREE WOMEN AND THE VOTE he won Best Cinematogrphy at the History Film Fest 2019 in Rijeka.

Other movies Grunsky has shot include NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS (2008), directed by Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig. In Europe he has been the cinemtaographer on the Austrian/German movies TALES OF FRANZ (2021), NEW TALES OF FRANZ (2022), directed by Johannes Schmid, and LEIBNIZ (2024), directed by Edgar Reitz. He has also lensed several documentaries, tv movies and series around the world.

Grunsky is a member of the German Society of Cinematographers, BVK.