Rimvydas Leipus
Lecturer and course supervisor at the LMTA Department of Film and Television. Subjects: Cinematography. Languages: Russian (C2), English (B2), French (A2).
Rimvydas Leipus (b. 1960) is an internationally acclaimed documentary and feature film operator. He studied operating cinematography at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) (now – The Russian State Institute of Cinematography) in Moscow, and since 1991, has been actively engaged in the professional cinema world as a freelance feature and documentary film operator. During his career, he has been involved in creating more than 40 films of various genres filmed at Lithuanian, Belgian, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, and Chinese film production companies.
Many of these works have received awards at international film festivals:
- 1992: the European Film Award (the Felix Award) for the best documentary Neregių žemė (Earth of the Blind) directed by Audrius Stonys,
- 1997: Rimvydas Leipus was nominated for Golden Frog awards for the best cinematography in Šarūnas Bartas’ film Namai (The House) at the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage’97 (Poland). ,
- 1999: the Lithuanian Filmmakers Union Award for the film Ketursparnė (The Fourwinger) directed by Ramunė Kudzmanaitė, Devynių vartų miestas (9 Gates City) directed by Kristijonas Vildžiūnas, and Kiemas (The Yard) directed by Valdas Navasaitis,
- 2000: the best cinematography award at Anapa Film Festival Kinoshock (Russia) with the feature-length film Kiemas (The Yard) directed by Valdas Navasaitis,
- 2007: the best cinematography award at the Cyprus International Film Festival Golden Aphrodite with the feature-length film Khadak directed by Peter Brossens and Jessica Woodworth,
- 2008: the best cinematography award at the AVANCA International Film Festival (Portugal) with the feature-length film Khadak,
- 2012: the best cinematography award at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival for the film Дом с башенкой (House with a Turret) directed by Eva Neymann,
- 2013: Rimvydas Leipus was nominated for the best cinematography award Golden Camera 300 at the Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers’ Film Festival (Macedonia) for the film Дом с башенкой (House with a Turret),
- 2016: Andrey Moskvin Award for the best cinematography at the Gatchina Literature and Cinema Film Festival (Russia) with the film Песнь песней (Song of Songs) directed by Eva Neymann.
Rimvydas Leipus has worked together with director Šarūnas Bartas on the filming of feature-length films Koridorius (The Corridor, 1995), Namai (The House, 1997), and Laisvė (Freedom, 2000). Together with director Audrius Stonys, Rimvydas Leipus filmed documentaries Neregių žemė (Earth of the Blind) in 1992 and Viena (Alone), in 2001.
Rimvydas Leipus’ major works include:
- Dešimt minučių prieš Ikaro skrydį (Ten Minutes Before the Flight of Icarus, 1990) directed by Arūnas Matelis,
- Khadak (2006) directed by Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens,
- Дом с башенкой (House with a Turret, 2012) directed by Eva Neymann,
- N: The Madness of Reason (2014) directed by Peter Krüger,
- El Padre Medico (2019) directed by Vytautas Puidokas.