Darius Khondji داریوش خنجی |
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Born |
Tehran, Iran |
21 October 1955
Nationality | Iranian-French |
Alma mater | New York University |
Occupation | Cinematographer |
Years active | 1984–present |
Title | ASC AFC ACS |
Darius Khondji, A.S.C. (Persian: داریوش خنجی; born 21 October 1955) is an Iranian-French cinematographer. He has worked with such well-known directors as Jean-Pierre Jeunet, David Fincher, Bernardo Bertolucci, Alan Parker, Roman Polanski, Sydney Pollack, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Wong Kar-wai, Danny Boyle and Michael Haneke.
He was born in Tehran, Iran, to an Iranian father and a French mother. At an early age, his family relocated in France. He became interested in film early on and made Super-8 films in his teens. Later in life, he moved to the United States to study at UCLA and then majored in film from New York University and the International Center for Photography. During this period two teachers influenced his decision to become a cinematographer: Jonas Mekas and Haig Manoogian (Martin Scorsese's film teacher). He realized that "all I wanted to do was shoot the other students' films. I was concerned with the power of the image and much less with story."
After his time in the United States, Khondji returned to France in 1981 and worked as an assistant for cinematographers like Bruno Nuytten, Martin Schafer and Pascal Marti. He also worked as a lighting director on music videos and commercials.