Louie Schwartzberg (born February 21, 1950) is an American director, producer, and cinematographer. Since 2004, Schwartzberg has worked as a director for films, including the 2019 film,

Fantastic Fungi ''Fantastic Fungi'' is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Louie Schwartzberg. The film combines time-lapse cinematography, CGI, and interviews in an overview of the biology, environmental roles, and various uses of fungi. The film feat ...

, and the 2014

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series, Moving Art. Schwartzberg is recognized as a pioneer in high-end

time-lapse Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

cinematography. Schwartzberg is a visual artist who focuses on connections between humans and the subtleties of nature and environment.

Early life and education

Schwartzberg grew up in Brooklyn, and his parents were Jewish Holocaust survivors. He graduated from

UCLA Film School The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leadi ...

with an MFA in the early seventies. Schwartzberg chaired and served as executive director of the Action! Vote Coalition and served on the board of the Earth Communications Office and the Environmental Media Association. He is a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.

Career

Schwartzberg is credited by many with pioneering the contemporary stock footage industry by founding Energy Film Library, a global company, which was acquired by

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...

in 1997. In 2012 completed '' Wings of Life'', a documentary feature for

Disneynature Disneynature is an independent film studio that specializes in the production of nature documentary films for The Walt Disney Studios. The production company was founded on April 21, 2008, and is headquartered in Paris, France. The company's n ...

, narrated by

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

. It won Best Theatrical Program at the Jackson Hole Science Media Awards 2012, and also won a Best Cinematography Roscar Award. The film reveals the fragile relationship between flowers and their pollination partners. In November, 2013 ''Mysteries of the Unseen World'', a 3D-IMAX film with

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

was released in theaters worldwide. The film is a journey into invisible worlds that are too slow, too fast, too small and too vast for the human eye to see. In 2013, Schwartzberg founded the company Moving Art, which produces High Definition 2D and 3D movies featuring nature, cityscapes, and visual effects. He also founded the large format film company, BlackLight Films, featuring content such as documentaries and children's programming. Projects include ''

America's Heart and Soul ''America's Heart and Soul'' is a 2004 American documentary film produced by Blacklight Films and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a documentary and was directed by Louis Schwartzberg. The film was nominated for two MovieGuide Millard ...

'' a story of Americans who are remarkable in their everyday lives, for Walt Disney Pictures; “America!”, a 26-episode half-hour series for The Hallmark Channel; and “Chasing the Light,” a one-hour documentary that aired on PBS. On April 6, 2014, he appeared in an interview with

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

Super Soul Sunday ''Super Soul Sunday'' is a self-help talk show hosted by Oprah Winfrey, which airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network. ''Super Soul Sunday'' premiered on October 16, 2011. Format ''Super Soul Sunday'' is designed to help viewers awaken to their best sel ...

(OWN TV) episode titled, ''The World Beyond What We Can See''. For

, he also made the series called Moving Art with six topics;

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

s, underwater and

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s. The seventh topic, about

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

s, is the film ''Fantastic Fungi'', released in 2019. Netflix has an additional six topics lined up:

Koh Samui Ko Samui (or Koh Samui, also often locally shortened to Samui; th, เกาะสมุย, ) is an island off the east coast of Thailand. Geographically in the Chumphon Archipelago, it is part of Surat Thani Province, though as of 2012, Ko ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; km, អង្គរវត្ត, "City/Capital of Temples") is a temple complex in Cambodia and is the largest religious monument in the world, on a site measuring . Originally constructed as a Hinduism, Hindu temple dedicated ...

whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

and

dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

Big Sur Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast of California between Carmel and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently praised for its dramatic scenery. Big Sur ha ...

and the Galapagos.

Speaking engagements

Schwartzberg is active in the

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

community, having spoken in 2011 at the following: TEDxSoCal, TEDxSF and TEDxJacksonhole, TEDxSMU, and TED Vancouver in March 2014. He has delivered speeches at NASA, Global Spa and Wellness Summit, The Nantucket Project and Bioneers. His

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

videos have collected over 60 million views.

Filmography

Bibliography

Awards

Schwartzberg has won two Clio Awards for Best Environmental Public Service Spots, an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nomination for Best Cinematography for the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

special ''Oceans of Air'', and the

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...

's Truly Moving Picture Award for

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...

’ release, ''America’s Heart and Soul''. Schwartzberg was recognized as one of the top 70 Cinematographers for the On Film

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

Salute Series. He is a member of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

and the

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

References

External links

Moving Art by Louie Schwartzberg, website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartzberg, Louie 1950 births Living people American cinematographers American Jews UCLA Film School alumni Filmmakers from Brooklyn Place of birth missing (living people) American documentary filmmakers Film directors from New York City