Luc Montpellier, ASC, CSC is an award-winning cinematographer with over 25 years of experience bringing to life visions of avant garde directors such as Guy Maddin, auteur directors such as longtime collaborator Sarah Polley and Clark Johnson, as well as the likes of Emmy-winning directors David Shore and Vince Gilligan. 

After studying film at Ryerson University, the Ontario native got his start in music videos and short films before breaking into indie features.

In 2001, he shot the short “I Shout Love,” Sarah Polley’s directorial debut, and the pair continued their collaboration on “Away from Her,” “Take This Waltz” and “Women Talking.” “Away from Her” received Academy Award nominations for Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress (Julie Christie); “Women Talking” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Luc’s artistic direction for “Women Talking” was hailed as “timeless” by IndieWire, “haunting” and “full of emotion” by No Film School, and “elegant and evocative” by Cinematography World earning him recognition from filmmakers and peers alike. This caught the eye of Academy Award winning producer, Peter Spears (“Nomadland,” “Call Me By Your Name”) for his upcoming film adaptation of Shannon Pufah’s novel “On Swift Horses” directed by Daniel Minahan, starring Jacob Elordi, Daisy Egar-Jones and Will Poulter. The film will premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. 

Luc’s feature credits also include Ruba Nadda’s “Sabah” and “Cairo Time”, the latter of which won Best Canadian Film at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival; Paolo Barzman’s “Emotional Arithmetic” which was nominated for a CSC Award; Asghar Massombagi’s FIPRESCI Award-winning drama “Khaled”, for which Luc won the Haskell Wexler Award at the Woodstock Film Festival; Emmanuel Shirinian’s “It Was You Charlie”, which earned Luc a Canadian Screen Award nomination; Guy Maddin’s experimental drama “The Saddest Music in the World” and Clark Johnson’s “Percy vs. Goliath” which premiered at the 2020 Quebec City Film Festival .

Luc’s television credits include projects such as Netflix’s “Tiny Pretty Things,” Hulu’s “Tell Me Lies,” Prime Video’s “Tales from the Loop,” A&E’s “Damian,” and SyFy’s “Incorporated.” Luc was nominated for Best TV Series Cinematography at the 2018 Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards for his work on the Starz series “Counterpart” starring JK Simmons.