Matthew Libatique facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Matthew Libatique
Libatique in 2011
Born	Matthew José Libatique (1968-07-19) July 19, 1968 (age 56) Elmhurst, New York, U.S.
Other names	Matty Libatique
Alma mater	California State University, Fullerton AFI Conservatory
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	1993–present
Spouse(s)	Mary-Ellen Libatique
Awards	Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography 2001 Requiem for a Dream 2011 Black Swan

Matthew Libatique (born July 19, 1968) is an American cinematographer. He is best known for his collaborations with director Darren Aronofsky on the films Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Fountain (2006), Black Swan (2010), Noah (2014), and Mother! (2017). Libatique has received three Academy Award for Best Cinematography nominations for his work on Black Swan (2010), A Star Is Born (2018), and Maestro (2023).

Early life and education

Matthew Libatique was born in Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, to Filipino immigrant parents Georgina (née José) and Justiniáno Libatique. His father was from Dagupan, and his mother was from Lucena.

Libatique studied sociology and communications at California State University, Fullerton, before earning an MFA in cinematography at AFI Conservatory.

Career

Libatique served as director of photography for music videos and teamed with fellow AFI alumnus Aronofsky for the short film Protozoa. The two collaborated on the first three of Aronofsky's feature films. Other frequent collaborators are Julie Dash (music videos including Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason"), Spike Lee (She Hate Me, Inside Man and Miracle at St. Anna), Joel Schumacher (Tigerland, Phone Booth and The Number 23), and Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Cowboys & Aliens).

Libatique's notable films include blockbusters such as Iron Man and Iron Man 2. In 2010, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Black Swan, for which he won his second Independent Spirit award. He has also won best cinematography awards at the LA Film Critics Association, NY Film Critics Online, SF Film Critics, among many others.

Libatique discussed the importance of working closely with a director on a Cinematographer Roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter, revealing: “The main thing is that you (both cinematographer and director) have the same goal and are telling the same story. Going into preparation you really need to be on the same page. Conflicts may arise when there’s a miscommunication about what’s important in a scene. So, it’s really important to listen...The director can (understandably) get pulled in a lot of different directions in prep. We, cinematographers are sort of guarding the gate of filmmaking, amongst all the other things that are happening.”

In addition to guarding the filmmaking gate, he also says of his process: “I’d like to think each film is custom made. The director obviously dictates the approach that I have because everybody has a different working style. Some people want to talk intensely and visually about shots. Some don’t talk much at all. They concentrate more on the performances and they give you a broad idea of what they want the film to look like. So my first approach is to evaluate them, which may start in the interview process. But you also learn in preparation, as much as you can about the director. And that informs how I prepare in pre-production. If I’m lucky I can shape a visual language off some kind of inspiration. But the director definitely dictates how I do it.”

2018 arrest

On November 14, 2018, Libatique was arrested on suspicion of assault for allegedly attacking paramedics and police at a hotel in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Libatique was attending Camerimage at the time. He was released without a fine or charges. In November 2020, a trial for Libatique was set to begin in February 2021. .....

Filmography

Short film

Feature film

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Director
1995	Redneck	Shane Kuhn
	Til Death Do Us Part	Phil Leirness
1996	Grinders	Gary Ellenberg
1998	Pi	Darren Aronofsky
	The Party Crashers	Phil Leirness
1999	Saturn	Rob Schmidt
2000	Requiem for a Dream	Darren Aronofsky
	Tigerland	Joel Schumacher
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Harry Elfont Deborah Kaplan
	Cosmic Coffee	Charles Wall
2002	Abandon	Stephen Gaghan
	Phone Booth	Joel Schumacher
2003	Gothika	Mathieu Kassovitz
2004	She Hate Me	Spike Lee
	Never Die Alone	Ernest Dickerson
2005	Everything Is Illuminated	Liev Schreiber
2006	Inside Man	Spike Lee
	The Fountain	Darren Aronofsky
2007	The Number 23	Joel Schumacher
2008	Iron Man	Jon Favreau
	Miracle at St. Anna	Spike Lee
2010	Black Swan	Darren Aronofsky
	Iron Man 2	Jon Favreau
	My Own Love Song	Olivier Dahan
2011	Cowboys & Aliens	Jon Favreau
2012	Ruby Sparks	Jonathan Dayton Valerie Faris
2014	Noah	Darren Aronofsky
2015	Straight Outta Compton	F. Gary Gray
	Chi-Raq	Spike Lee
2016	Money Monster	Jodie Foster
	Pelé: Birth of a Legend	Jeff Zimbalist Michael Zimbalist
2017	The Circle	James Ponsoldt
	Mother!	Darren Aronofsky
2018	Venom	Ruben Fleischer
	A Star Is Born	Bradley Cooper
2019	Native Son	Rashid Johnson
2020	Birds of Prey	Cathy Yan
	The Prom	Ryan Murphy
2022	Don't Worry Darling	Olivia Wilde
	The Whale	Darren Aronofsky
2023	Maestro	Bradley Cooper
TBA	High and Low	Spike Lee

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

BAFTA Awards

American Society of Cinematographers

Independent Spirit Awards

Online Film Critics Society

Boston Society of Film Critics

Chicago Film Critics Association

Satellite Awards

Critics' Choice Movie Awards

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association

Other awards