Lula Carvalho

Lula Carvalho, ASC is a Brazilian cinematographer, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1977. His body of work includes the acclaimed features Elite Squad (2007) and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010), RoboCop (2014) and the blockbuster  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). As of 2022, Carvalho is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers. He is a resident of the United States.

Carvalho grew up on film sets, working with his father, the acclaimed cinematographer Walter Carvalho. He learned how to load film magazines for the camera department at age of 10, started working as a second camera assistant upon finishing high school and became a professional first photographer assistant at age of 20.

Carvalho pulled focus on over nineteen acclaimed Brazilian features, including City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles – nominated for 4 Oscars including an 76th Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2004; Behind the Sun, directed by Walter Salles; and Carandiru directed by Héctor Babenco.

During this time, Carvalho also worked at second units as a cinematographer and as a camera operator on features. He also completed cinematography and still photography classes at New York University and the School of Visual Arts in New York.

In 2005, Carvalho shot his first feature as a cinematographer, Incuráveis, directed by Gustavo Accioli. He went on to shoot Elite Squad, directed by José Padilha which won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival; A Festa da Menina Morta, directed by Matheus Natchergaele which was an official selection in Un Certain Regard at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival; December, directed by Selton Mello; Budapest, directed by Walter Carvalho along with three documentaries.

In 2008, Carvalho was awarded the Best Cinematography Prize by both the Brazilian Cinema Academy and the International Press Correspondents Association in Brazil (ACIE) for Elite Squad, which also led him to a nomination in the 2008 Camerimage Festival, in Polland. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, the follow-up to Elite Squad, and Carvalho was once again awarded the Best Cinematography Prize by both the Brazilian Cinema Academy and the International Press Correspondents Association in Brazil (ACIE), in 2011. In 2008 Carvalho shot the Argentinian Production Felicitas and was finalist for the Condor Award 2010 for that.

Carvalho's first US studio feature was MGM’s big budget reboot of the science fiction classic, Robocop in 2012. In 2013, he shot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in New York City for Paramount Pictures, Michael Bay, Platinum Dunes and director Jonathan Liebesman which was a huge hit at the box office in 2014. In 2014 Carvalho also shot the Netflix series Narcos in Colombia and after that, in 2016, shot the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

Carvalho was also shooting features in Brazil such as Artificial Paradise, Eden and in 2013, Carvalho won the ABC (Association of the Brazilian Cinematographers) Award for the movie A Wolf at the Door, an internationally awarded feature film and again won the ABC Award for Bingo in 2015. In 2016 shot Seven Days in Entebbee for Working Title and Participant.

In 2017, Carvalho shot episodes of the Netflix's Narcos Mexico, The Mechanism and the Brazilian documentary Police Killing which won the first prize of It Is All True Film Festival, participated in the IDFA festival and was short listed for the Academy’s best documentary.

In 2019 shot the non fictional Amazon Series All Or Nothing following the Brazilian national soccer team throughout its participation at the South American Cup.

His most recent work was in the second season of HBOs The Gilded Age coming back this fall.

At 45 years old, Carvalho has worked as a cinematographer in over 100 titles, including features films, TV series, documentaries, commercials and shorts plus 26 other films in the camera department. He has been awarded more than 20 prizes for best cinematography in festivals around the world.

He is now based in Brooklyn, New York.

Documentary film
Documentary short