Erik

van Empel

Erik van Empel has been an acclaimed cinematographer for more than thirty years.
He has shot over one hundred feature-length documentaries worldwide, including most of the films of award-winning director John Appel.
His work has twice been chosen as the opening film of the IDFA documentary film festival; many of his films have been awarded or nominated by juries around the world: the Grand Award at Docudays Kiev, the Magnolia Award in Shanghai, the Golden Calf Award for Best Camera in the Netherlands, the Joris Ivens Award, the European Academy Award, and the Prix d'Europe.

In 2003, van Empel made his first feature-length documentary, Tour des Legendes, on the theme of the legends of the Tour de France, which premiered at the Visions du Reel film festival in Nyon and was released theatrically in the Netherlands.
In 2011, he made a highly successful documentary about his brother, the acclaimed photographer Ruud van Empel. The documentary was broadcast on Dutch television and screened for three months at the Groningen Museum to a consistent international audience. This was followed by Paolo Ventura – The Vanishing Man, in 2015.
Recently, van Empel has taught master classes at the IDFA screenwriting workshop and at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy.
He is currently researching and developing a documentary about digital manipulation in current photography, titled RAW.