Meet Laura Merians Gonçalves

Today we’d like to introduce you to CINEMATOGRAPHER Laura Merians Gonçalves.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Laura. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I never thought of filmmaking as a career. I studied philosophy at school and I wanted to be a professor. I spent my freshman year studying at Cambridge. It was pretty lonely and serious there, so I ended up making a light-hearted documentary series called “Sidewalk Metaphysics,” interviewing people about theology. That started a pattern of exploring philosophy through film during my time at college. After graduation, I had plans to go to Japan for a year and needed money. So I got a summer job on a movie. I liked the sound of the lighting department so I begged the gaffer to hire me- it was a very low budget movie and he was desperate, so he hired me as his best boy electric. When I got back from Japan, I started working as a lighting technician. I did that for about seven years until I started shooting. I really enjoyed being an electrician.

I always thought the DP had the coolest job in the world, but I thought becoming one was unlikely. I knew there would be some amount of luck involved and lots of practice. So I just started shooting anything I could. All of my early collaborators where my friends that were coming up with me. I did a lot of music videos and reality tv. Working as an electrician was the only way I could afford to learn that way. Film school was not an option.

In 2012 one of my collaborators Andrew Thomas Huang and I shot a passion project, a short film called “Solipsist” that got the attention of Bjork and led to us shooting a music video with her and more cool projects.

After that, things slowly snowballed. I continued to make commercials and music videos. I recently shot my first feature film in Brazil called “Pacified.”I hope to continue to do good work on meaningful projects, with great people.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I was kinda naive when I started. In the beginning, I didn’t know how unique it was to be a female technician. That’s just what people would always say when they saw me on set. Now, looking back, there was always this feeling of being an outsider, like I snuck in the room. Maybe it was because I didn’t study film or because I was in a male-dominated field. When I joined 728 (electrical union) I think there were about 20 woman total in the union at the time, and there were some people who weren’t thrilled that I was there. But a lot of men were very encouraging and I was appreciated for my hard work.

When I started shooting, I was still naive. I thought that if I did good work, I would get opportunities – but then I would see friends or operators I would hire moving on to big projects and I was not advancing at the same pace. So I saw it was going to take more time for me and I kept at it. I was at Fotokem the first time I heard the term unconscious bias. The woman who ran the lab at the time told me I should go by my initials so people wouldn’t know I’m a woman and I wouldn’t be discriminated against. But I never wanted to not be hired or hired because of my gender. I didn’t want to hide my identity and instead just continued to work and develop.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what it means to be a cinematographer and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Cinematography is part technician, part artist. DP’s are in charge of the lighting, grip, and camera department and make their director’s vision come to life. As a DP, you have to be able to do anything, so I don’t think I specialize in anything specific, but I think I’m good team player and love my crew very deeply: they are family. In actuality, I am most proud of my relationship with my crew. Creatively, I love pushing the ideas my directors have to the next level. I always see the magic in the ordinary. I think I’m hired for that aesthetic.

What were you like growing up?
I always was a big daydreamer and truly believed in magic- I was raised in a way that strongly encouraged that. I loved go-carts, satin jackets and Sly and the Family Stone. And was always curious and fearless. Nothing has really changed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lauramerians.com
• Instagram: lauramerians

Image Credit:
PHOTOS of me by Barney Cokeliss

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