Biography
Edward Lachman, A.S.C. is an American cinematographer and director. Lachman is mostly associated with the American independent film movement, and has served as director of photography on films by Todd Haynes, Wim Wenders, Steven Soderbergh, Sofia Coppola and Paul Schrader
Known For
Complete Filmography

Maria
2024
Director of Photography
Maria Callas, the world's greatest opera singer, lives the last days of her life in 1970s Paris, as she confronts her identity and life.

El Conde
2023
Director of Photography
After living for over two centuries, Augusto Pinochet is a vampire ready to die… but the vultures around him won't let him go without one last bite.

Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
2022
Director of Photography
An intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and...

The Velvet Underground
2021
Director of Photography
Experience the iconic rock band's legacy in the first major documentary to tell their story. Directed with the era’s avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes...

Wim Wenders, Desperado
2020
as Self
"Wings Of Desire" and "Buena Vista Social Club", "Paris, Texas" and "The State Of Things": Wim Wenders is considered one of the pioneers of New German...

Dark Waters
2019
Director of Photography
A tenacious attorney uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to one of the world's largest corporations. In the pr...

Revisiting The Virgin Suicides
2018
as Self
A program featuring director Sofia Coppola, actors Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett, and cinematographer Ed Lachman looking back at The Virgin Suicides...

Wonderstruck
2017
Director of Photography
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the s...

Life in Boxes
2017
as Self
Life in boxes, objects as a form of memory. Two-time Oscar nominee Edward Lachman shows us the loft in New York where he lives surrounded by boxes.

Wiener-Dog
2016
Director of Photography, Camera Operator
A dachshund passes from oddball owner to oddball owner, whose radically dysfunctional lives are all impacted by the pooch.

Carol
2015
Director of Photography
In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.

Don't Blink - Robert Frank
2015
Director of Photography
The life and work of Robert Frank—as a photographer and a filmmaker—are so intertwined that they're one in the same, and the vast amount of territory ...

Sluizer Speaks
2014
Some doctors say he won't last another day but still he keeps making films. Sluizer Speaks tells the story of George Sluizer, director of such films a...

Cathedrals of Culture
2014
Director of Photography
"If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?" CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of...

Six by Sondheim
2013
Director of Photography
This intimate documentary explores the life and career of the stage legend Stephen Sondheim through six of his best-known songs.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
Director of Photography
Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of t...

Paradise: Hope
2013
Director of Photography
Her mother in Kenya, 13-year-old Melanie spends her summer vacation at a strict diet camp set in the Austrian countryside. Between workouts and nutrit...

Dark Blood
2012
Director of Photography
Filmed in 1993 but never completed due to River Phoenix's death, Dark Blood tells the story of Boy, a young widower living on a nuclear testing site i...

Paradise: Faith
2012
Director of Photography
For Anna Maria, paradise lies with Jesus, and she devotes her time to door-to-door missionary work. One day after years of absence, her husband, an Eg...

Paradise: Love
2012
Director of Photography
On the beaches of Kenya they’re known as "Sugar Mamas" —European women who seek out African boys selling love to earn a living. Teresa, a 50-year-old ...
About Jenny Holzer
2011
Director of Photography
Director Claudia Muller follows the career of conceptual artist Jenny Holzer in this documentary that's as illuminating as her trademark LED displays....

Howl
2010
Director of Photography
It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the...

Life During Wartime
2010
Director of Photography
Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos. Follows Solond...

Collapse
2009
Director of Photography
From the acclaimed director of American Movie, the documentary follows former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter Michael Ruppert. ...
Life for a Child
2008
Director
Directed by Academy Award-nominee Edward Lachman, the documentary film Life for a Child follows the journeys of children with type 1 diabetes amid the...

Import/Export
2007
Director of Photography
A nurse from Ukraine searches for a better life in the West, while an unemployed security guard from Austria heads East for the same reason. Both are ...

I'm Not There
2007
Director of Photography
Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger...

Hounddog
2007
Director of Photography
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

A Prairie Home Companion
2006
Director of Photography
A look at what goes on backstage during the last broadcast of America's most celebrated radio show, where singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty, a country m...

Final 24: River Phoenix
2006
as Self - Cinematographer, Dark Blood
Final 24 recreates River Phoenix's last day to tell the tragic tale of a young man whose short life was dominated by the constant pressure to perform.

The Music of Regret
2006
Director of Photography
Simmons, best-known for her photographs of miniature rooms populated by dolls and of oversized objects—such as a house, birthday cake, and pistol—bala...

Ken Park
2003
Director of Photography, Director
Ken Park focuses on several teenagers and their tormented home lives. Shawn seems to be the most conventional. Tate is brimming with psychotic rage; C...

Far from Heaven
2002
Director of Photography
In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife's life is upended by a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in society.

S1m0ne
2002
Director of Photography
The career of a disillusioned producer, who is desperate for a hit, is endangered when his star walks off the film set. Forced to think fast, the prod...

Sweet November
2001
Director of Photography
Nelson is a man devoted to his advertising career in San Francisco. One day, while taking a driving test at the DMV, he meets Sara. She is very differ...

The Virgin Suicides
2000
Director of Photography
A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents.

Erin Brockovich
2000
Director of Photography
A twice-divorced mother of three who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins -- with a little help from her push-up bra. Erin goes to work fo...

The Limey
1999
Director of Photography
The Limey follows Wilson, a tough English ex-con who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. Upon arrival, Wilson goes to task battling...

Why Do Fools Fall In Love
1998
Director of Photography
In the mid-80s, three women (each with an attorney) arrive at the office of New York entertainment manager, Morris Levy. One is an L.A. singer, former...

Selena
1997
Director of Photography
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young d...

Touch
1997
Director of Photography
At the discovery of his ability to work miracles, Juvenal becomes a media sensation, but now he's prone to those who want to exploit him.

My Family
1995
Director of Photography
Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los A...

My New Gun
1992
Director of Photography
Debbie Bender is a New Jersey housewife whose life is turned upside down when her husband gives her a gun for self-protection. But his plans backfire ...

Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint
1992
Director of Photography
Follow-up to Roger & Me.

Light Sleeper
1992
Director of Photography
John LeTour is a recovering drug user who suffers insomnia and still deals to a high-end New York clientele, even though he’s trying to move on from t...

London Kills Me
1991
Director of Photography
For want of a nail a shoe was lost, for want of a shoe... a young man's life is almost lost, which is exactly what this film is all about: a man barel...

Mississippi Masala
1991
Director of Photography
Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their home in Uganda, twentysomething Mina finds herself helping to run a motel in the faraway land o...

Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter
1990
Director
This music special is dedicated to dispelling the prejudices associated with the HIV infection and raising money for AIDS research and relief. Some of...

Catchfire
1990
Director of Photography
A witness to a mob assassination flees for her life from town to town, switching identities, but cannot seem to elude Milo, the chief killer out to ge...

The Local Stigmatic
1990
Director of Photography
Two symbiotic sociopaths play obscurely deviant mind games with each other while engaging in perversely brutal acts of violence against victims appare...

Lou Reed and John Cale: Songs for Drella
1990
Director of Photography, Director
Songs for Drella is a concept album by Lou Reed and John Cale, both formerly of The Velvet Underground, and is dedicated to the memory of Andy Warhol,...

Protect me from what I want
1990
Director of Photography, Director
As the 1980s reached its frantic climax, Jenny Holzer was the world’s most celebrated artist, with 3 solo shows in 1989: the Dia Art Foundation, the G...

Imagining America
1989
Director
An anthology film consisting of four shorts with the central theme being life in the United States.

Less Than Zero
1987
Director of Photography
A college freshman returns to Los Angeles for Christmas at his ex-girlfriend's request, but discovers that his former best friend has an out-of-contro...

A Gathering of Old Men
1987
Director of Photography
A regular day in a Louisiana sugarcane plantation changes course when a local white farmer is shot in self defense. A group of old, black men takes a ...

Making Mr. Right
1987
Director of Photography
When image consultant Frankie Stone is hired by a tech company to teach a scientist’s “Ulysses Robot” how to be a man, she winds up developing very re...

Mother Teresa
1986
Director of Photography
We follow the daily activities of Mother Teresa and her nuns, in service to the poor of India and the world. Mother Teresa attends to the basic needs ...

True Stories
1986
Director of Photography
A small but growing Texas town, filled with strange and musical characters, celebrates its sesquicentennial and converge on a local parade and talent ...

The Tender Age
1986
Director of Photography
Tim Donovan, a juvenile probation officer for the city of Boston, is assigned the case of Nikki, a troubled teenage girl who's been arrested for Assa...

Ornette: Made in America
1986
Director of Photography
Shirley Clarke's frenetic documentary about multi-talented musician Ornette Coleman.

The Day You Love Me
1986
Director of Photography
Two communist lovers prepare to move to the Ukraine and work on a collective farm. Meanwhile, a celebrated pop singer visits their small town, and se...

Stripper
1985
Director of Photography
A strippers' convention and a major contest. The movie focuses on a few strippers, each with her own strong motive to win.

Insignificance
1985
Additional Camera
Four 1950s cultural icons who conceivably could have met but probably didn't, fictionally do so in this modern fable of post-WWII America. Visually in...

Tokyo-Ga
1985
Director of Photography
German director Wim Wenders tries to explore the Tokyo that was depicted in the films of Yasujiro Ozu and finds a very different city.

Desperately Seeking Susan
1985
Director of Photography
A bored New Jersey suburban housewife's fascination with a free-spirited woman she has read about in the personal columns leads to her being mistaken ...
Report from Hollywood
1985
Director
“It may be worse than Portugal,” observes cinematographer Henri Alekan about a Los Angeles film lab while on the set of Wim Wenders’ The State of Thin...

R.A.B.L.
1985
Director of Photography
RABL combines film, early 3D computer animated human movement, and dance. RABL explores the interaction of human bodies and technology with choreograp...

The Last Trip to Harrisburg
1984
Director, Director of Photography
A soldier and a beautiful blonde on a train to Harrisburg.

Huie's Sermon
1983
Camera Operator
Reverend Huie Rogers is a preacher at the Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Brooklyn. He is the topic of this short film, during which laun...

Say Amen, Somebody
1983
Director of Photography
Documentary on modern black gospel music, focusing on the pioneering Rev. Thomas Dorsey and Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith

The Little Wars
1982
Director of Photography
Beirut resident Soraya is drawn to two men: daredevil photographer Nabil and Talal, who must embrace his feudal heritage when his father is kidnapped.

Split Cherry Tree
1982
Director of Photography
Split Cherry Tree is a 1982 short film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. A father learns the importance of education and gains an understanding of his ...

They All Laughed
1981
Camera Operator
New York's Odyssey Detective Agency is hired by two different clients to follow two women suspected of infidelity. Ladies' man John Russo trails Angel...

An All Round Maid
1981
Director of Photography
A video derived from footage Godard kept from his 1981 visit to Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios at the time he was making Passion.

Lightning Over Water
1980
as Self
Director 'Nicholas Ray' is eager to complete a final film before his imminent death from cancer. Wim Wenders is working on his own film Hammett (1983)...

Lightning Over Water
1980
Director of Photography
Director 'Nicholas Ray' is eager to complete a final film before his imminent death from cancer. Wim Wenders is working on his own film Hammett (1983)...

Union City
1980
Director of Photography
A 1950s accountant with a restless wife grows paranoid after hiding a milk thief's corpse next door.

Last Embrace
1979
Additional Photography
Secret agent Harry Hannan suffers a mental breakdown when a botched mission in Mexico results in the death of his wife. He is sent to a mental asylum,...

La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
1977
as Self
Werner Herzog takes a film crew to the island of Guadeloupe when he hears that the volcano on the island is going to erupt. Everyone has left, except ...

La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
1977
Camera Operator, Director of Photography
Werner Herzog takes a film crew to the island of Guadeloupe when he hears that the volcano on the island is going to erupt. Everyone has left, except ...

The American Friend
1977
Assistant Camera
Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by ga...

Stroszek
1977
Second Unit Director of Photography
Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he...

False Face
1977
Director of Photography
A psychopathic plastic surgeon transforms a young accident victim into the spitting image of his missing daughter.

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
1976
Camera Operator, Assistant Camera
A documentary short examining the language and performance of auctioneering, filmed at the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in Pennsylvania.

The Lords of Flatbush
1974
Director of Photography
Set in 1958, the coming of age story follows four lower middle-class Brooklyn teenagers known as The Lords of Flatbush. The Lords chase girls, steal c...
America First
1972
Assistant Camera
A previously isolated Appalachian region is infiltrated by seven travelers, who seek to create a Utopian community with the residents. A television do...