Kate McCullough

Following her studies at the Lodz Film School, Poland, Kate teamed up with Michael Lavelle on Ken Wardrop’s “His & Hers,” where they jointly won the Cinematography Award in World Cinema Documentary at Sundance 2010. This success launched McCullough on a run of documentaries, including “Here Was Cuba” (2013), “The Farthest” (2017), for which she was nominated for an Emmy in Lighting Design, and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott’s “Songs for While I’m Away” (2020), which picked up an “Award for Excellence” at the 2022 Guild of Television Camera Professionals. She also lensed “I, Dolours” (2018), a docudrama by Maurice Sweeney, for which she was awarded the coveted Golden Frog for her cinematography at Camerimage in 2018.

 

She then began shooting drama where she worked on the second block for the Element produced “Normal People” (2020) with director Hettie Macdonald and won the Irish Film & Television Awards for Best Cinematography in 2021. McCullough shot the acclaimed Irish language film “An Cailín Ciúin” (“The Quiet Girl”) (2022). Her exacting work on this feature has garnered her Best Cinematography at the 2022 Irish Film & Television Awards and more recently earning her an Excellence Award in Cinematography at the European Film Awards 2022. In January 2023, The American Society of Cinematography nominated Kate in their Spotlight Award for her work on this film. And The Quiet Girl was the first ever Irish Language film to be nominated for An Academy Award in ‘Best International Feature Film’.

 

McCullough is a member of the Irish Society of Cinematographers and Illuminatrix.

Awards

AN CAILÍN CIÚIN / THE QUIET GIRL
Oscar nominee
Best International Feature Film
2022
BAFTA Nominee Film not in the English Language 2022
Best Cinematography European Film Awards 2022
ASC Spotlight Award Nominee 2023
Girls on Film Nominee Best Cinematographer 2022

NORMAL PEOPLE
Best Cinematography  Irish Film +TV Awards 2021

ARRACHT  
Cinematographers’ Debut Competition Energa CAMERIMAGE 2020
Best Cinematography Nominee, Irish Film TV Awards 2020

I, DOLOURS
Golden Frog for Best Cinematography Docudrama Energa Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, Torun, Poland 2018

HIS & HERS
Best Cinematography World Cinema Documentary Sundance 2010

THE FARTHEST 
Emmy Winner Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary 2018   
Emmy Nominee Outstanding Lighting Direction and Scenic Design 2018
Súil Eile Award, Best Cinematography Irish Film Festival, London, UK 2017

IT’S NOT YET DARK 
Donal Gilligan Award Best Cinematography Galway Film Fesitval, Ireland 2016

MUMMYS LITTLE HELPER
Donal Gilligan Award Best Cinematography Galway Film Fesitval, Ireland 2011

HERE WAS CUBA 
Best Cinematography Nominee, Irish Film TV Awards 2014