Visions of Light

1992 documentary film

Arnold Glassman
Todd McCarthy
Stuart Samuels

Written byTodd McCarthyProduced by

Terry Lawler
Yoshiki Nishimura

CinematographyNancy SchreiberEdited byArnold GlassmanDistributed byKino International, CBS/FOX Video (home video)

Release date

1992 (1992)

Running time

92 minutesCountriesJapan
United StatesLanguageEnglish

Visions of Light (also known as Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography)^[1] is a 1992 documentary film directed by Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy and Stuart Samuels. The film covers the art of cinematography since the conception of cinema at the turn of the 20th century. It features numerous filmmakers and cinematographers as interview subjects, presenting their views and discussing the importance of cinematography in the craft of filmmaking.^[2]

Synopsis

The film includes interviews with many modern-day directors of photography and cinematographers, who illustrate via examples their best work and the scenes from films that influenced them to pursue their art. These subjects include Néstor Almendros, John Bailey, Conrad Hall, Michael Chapman, and László Kovács.

Among the pioneers they pay homage are Gregg Toland, Billy Bitzer, James Wong Howe and John Alton. The practitioners also explain the origins behind many of their most indelible images in cinema history.^[3]

Cinematographer interviews

Sandi Sissel
Ernest Dickerson
Michael Chapman
Allen Daviau
Caleb Deschanel
Conrad Hall
William A. Fraker
John Bailey
Néstor Almendros
Vilmos Zsigmond
Stephen H. Burum
Charles Lang
Sven Nykvist
László Kovács
James Wong Howe
Haskell Wexler
Vittorio Storaro
John A. Alonzo
Victor J. Kemper
Owen Roizman
Gordon Willis
Bill Butler
Michael Ballhaus
Frederick Elmes^[4]

Filmography

The following films are featured in clips or discussed:

The Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1895)
Repas de bébé (1895)
L'Arrivée d'un train à la Ciotat (1895)
The Kiss (1896)
Le Spectre rouge (1907)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Intolerance (1916)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Way Down East (1920)
Der Letzte Mann (1924)
Ben-Hur (1925)
Napoléon (1927)
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
The Crowd (1928)
The Cameraman (1928)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Applause (1929)
The Locked Door (1929)
Possessed (1931)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Shanghai Express (1932)
As You Desire Me (1932)
What Price Hollywood? (1932)
Red Dust (1932)
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Queen Christina (1933)
Becky Sharp (1935)
Peter Ibbetson (1935)
Desire (1936)
Camille (1936)
Jezebel (1938)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Midnight (1939)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
The Sea Hawk (1940)
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
The Killers (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
T-Men (1947)
The Naked City (1948)
Oliver Twist (1948)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
On the Waterfront (1954)
The Big Combo (1955)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Picnic (1955)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Jules et Jim (1962)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Hud (1963)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
The Professionals (1966)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
In Cold Blood (1967)
The Graduate (1967)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Easy Rider (1969)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
The Conformist (1970)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
Fat City (1972)
Chinatown (1974)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Day of the Locust (1975)
Jaws (1975)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Eraserhead (1977)
Annie Hall (1977)
Star Wars (1977)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Raging Bull (1980)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Goodfellas (1990)

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.4/10.^[5]

Awards

Wins

New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award; Best Documentary; 1993.
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: BSFC Award Best Documentary; 1993.
National Society of Film Critics Awards: NSFC Award; Best Documentary; 1994.

Nominations

American Cinema Editors: Eddie; Best Edited Documentary, Arnold Glassman; 1994.

References

^ Turner Classic Movies
^ Time Out
^ "Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography". Variety. 1992-06-10. Archived from the original on 2021-01-19.
^ FilmAffinity
^ "Visions of Light". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 1, 2024.

External links

Visions of Light at IMDb
Visions of Light at AllMovie
Visions of Light at the TCM Movie Database
Visions of Light film review on YouTube by Siskel and Ebert and The Movies
Visions of Light at Box Office Mojo
Visions of Light at Rotten Tomatoes

Awards for Visions of Light
v t e Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Documentary Film
1980–2000	Charleen or How Long Has This Been Going On? (1980) Diaries (1981) The Atomic Cafe (1982) Say Amen, Somebody (1983) The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) Shoah (1985) Mother Teresa (1986) Marlene (1987) The Thin Blue Line (1988) Let's Get Lost (1989) No Award (1990) Paris Is Burning (1991) No Award (1992) Visions of Light (1993) Hoop Dreams (1994) Crumb (1995) Anne Frank Remembered (1996) Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997) The Big One (1998) Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary (1999) The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000)
2001–present	The Gleaners and I (2001) The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002) Capturing the Friedmans (2003) Control Room (2004) Murderball (2005) Deliver Us from Evil / Shut Up & Sing (2006) Crazy Love (2007) Man on Wire (2008) The Cove (2009) Marwencol (2010) Project Nim (2011) How to Survive a Plague (2012) The Act of Killing (2013) Citizenfour (2014) Amy (2015) O.J.: Made in America (2016) Dawson City: Frozen Time (2017) Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) Honeyland (2019) Collective (2020) Summer of Soul (2021) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) Geographies of Solitude (2023)

v t e National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Non-Fiction Film
Stop Making Sense (1984) Shoah (1985) Marlene (1986) No Award (1987) The Thin Blue Line (1988) Roger & Me (1989) Berkeley in the Sixties (1990) Paris Is Burning (1991) American Dream (1992) Visions of Light (1993) Hoop Dreams (1994) Crumb (1995) When We Were Kings (1996) Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997) The Farm: Angola, USA (1998) Buena Vista Social Club (1999) The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (2000) The Gleaners and I (2001) Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002) To Be and to Have (2003) Tarnation (2004) Grizzly Man (2005) An Inconvenient Truth (2006) No End in Sight (2007) Man on Wire (2008) The Beaches of Agnès (2009) Inside Job (2010) Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) The Gatekeepers (2012) The Act of Killing / At Berkeley (2013) Citizenfour (2014) Amy (2015) O.J.: Made in America (2016) Faces Places (2017) Minding the Gap (2018) Honeyland (2019) Time (2020) Flee (2021) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (2023)

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Non-Fiction Film

Stop Making Sense (1984)
Shoah (1985)
Marlene (1986)
No Award (1987)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Roger & Me (1989)
Berkeley in the Sixties (1990)
Paris Is Burning (1991)
American Dream (1992)
Visions of Light (1993)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Crumb (1995)
When We Were Kings (1996)
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)
The Farm: Angola, USA (1998)
Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (2000)
The Gleaners and I (2001)
Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)
To Be and to Have (2003)
Tarnation (2004)
Grizzly Man (2005)
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
No End in Sight (2007)
Man on Wire (2008)
The Beaches of Agnès (2009)
Inside Job (2010)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011)
The Gatekeepers (2012)
The Act of Killing / At Berkeley (2013)
Citizenfour (2014)
Amy (2015)
O.J.: Made in America (2016)
Faces Places (2017)
Minding the Gap (2018)
Honeyland (2019)
Time (2020)
Flee (2021)
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022)
Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (2023)

v t e New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Non-Fiction Film
Best Documentary 1980–1997	Best Boy (1980) No Award (1981–1983) The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) Shoah (1985) Marlene (1986) No Award (1987) The Thin Blue Line (1988) Roger & Me (1989) No Award (1990) Paris Is Burning (1991) Brother's Keeper (1992) Visions of Light (1993) Hoop Dreams (1994) Crumb (1995) When We Were Kings (1996) Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)
Best Non-Fiction Film 1998–present	The Farm: Angola, USA (1998) Buena Vista Social Club (1999) The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (2000) The Gleaners and I (2001) Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002) Capturing the Friedmans (2003) Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) Grizzly Man / The White Diamond (2005) Deliver Us from Evil (2006) No End in Sight (2007) Man on Wire (2008) Of Time and the City (2009) Inside Job (2010) Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) The Central Park Five (2012) Stories We Tell (2013) Citizenfour (2014) In Jackson Heights (2015) O.J.: Made in America (2016) Faces Places (2017) Minding the Gap (2018) Honeyland (2019) Time (2020) Flee (2021) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (2023)

New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Non-Fiction Film

Best Documentary
1980–1997