Oona Menges
Cinematographer
Berlin International Art Film Festival
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About
Oona Menges
Celebrated cinematographer Oona Menges is admired for her exquisite compositions and artful lighting skills, having honed her craft working in camera departments on every genre of film.
Recently, Menges wrapped shooting Apple TV’s Project Iron and is currently working on The Power of Lies.
In early 2021, Menges shot L.O.L.A, a thrilling sci-fi about sisters who discover a machine that intercepts radio and television broadcasts from the future. Directed by Andrew Legge, the 1940s period/sci-fi stars Emma Appleton and Stefanie Martini.
Menges also lensed The Host, directed by long time collaborator Andy Newbery. A dark crime horror film, The Host follows a London banker whose run-ins with a Chinese cartel leads to an international adventure filled with dark secrets and darker consequences.
Prior to The Host, Menges worked on the critically-acclaimed web drama series Different for Girls, photographing six episodes. Based on Jacquie Lawrence’s novel of the same name, the adaptation follows a group of lesbian and bisexual women whose lives and loves persevere amidst heartbreak, betrayal and cruelty.
Menges also lensed the BAFTA-winning mini-series Joe All Alone, based on Joanna Nadin’s best selling novel. Joe All Alone follows a young boy who is left home alone for a week to fend for himself, dealing with new friends and a mysterious parcel of money he discovers.
The first feature Menges shot was 2015’s investigative thriller Social Suicide, directed by Bruce Webb. The film is a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet through the lens of social media. It also examines the lengths teenagers will go to, to get noticed on the internet.
Menges has shot several short films, including: O-T Fagbenle’s Moth (Man of the House); George Tanu’s Looking for Albert; Ian Boisvert and Drew Hoffman’s Rubicon; Lyndon Ives’ Verity; and the TV movie Elen, directed by Andy Newbery. Elen earned a BSC Emerging Talent award and BAFTA’s Cymru award.
Menges is on the board of the Guild of British Camera Technicians and the committee for the British Camera Operator Awards and has a role as mentor for ScreenSkills. She holds membership/ affiliations with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Broadcasting Entertainment Communications and Theatre Union, Women in Film and TV, British Society of Cinematographers
Named one of ASC’s rising stars in 2017, Menges has since cemented herself as a highly sought after director of photography, whose trailblazing efforts create cinematic magic on any project.
Menges is represented by Claire Best & Associates.
Affiliations/Member: full voting member BAFTA, BECTU, IATSE, G.B.C.T
Dual U.S / U.K citizenship , Canadian Residency
link IMDB
UK, USA & Australia Agent Contacts
Claire Best & Associates
736 Seward Street Los Angeles, CA 90038
Agency
AUSTIN DENESUK CAA
2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067
AUSTRALIA AGENT
KATE RICHTER HLA MANAGEMENT
87 Pitt St, Redfern NSW 2016, Australia
Manager
DENNIS KIM LITERATE MANAGEMENT
3301 Barham Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90068
PUBLICIST
MEREDITH EMMANUEL EMMANUEL BATES COMMUNICATIONS.
L.O.L.A
Andrew Legge’s sci-fi feature L.O.L.A. has wrapped principal photography on location in Ireland, which took place with Covid-19 safety measures in place.
1940, sisters Thom and Mars have built a machine, L.O.L.A., that can intercept radio and TV broadcasts from the future. This allows them to listen to iconic music before it has been made, place bets knowing what the outcome will be and embrace their inner punk well before the movement came into existence.
But with the Second World War escalating, the sisters decide to use the machine for good to intercept information from the future that could help with military intelligence.
The machine initially proves to be a huge success, rapidly twisting the fortunes of the war against the Nazis.
While Thom becomes intoxicated by L.O.L.A., Mars begins to realise the terrible consequences of its power. As their relationship falls apart, Thom makes a fatal error with her machine that leads to a nightmarish future. Can the sisters’ love for each other save the world they’ve lost?
L.O.L.A. is written by Andrew Legge and Angeli Macfarlane, from a story by Legge and Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth (Tell it to the Bees). Andrew Legge’s short films have won numerous awards (including Best Short Film at Tribecca Film Festival, Galway Film Festival, Belfast Film Festival and Celtic Media Festival) and he was selected for the extremely prestigious Cinefondation Residence at the Cannes Film Festival.
Emma Appleton (Traitors, Channel 4; The Witcher, Netflix) and Stefanie Martini (Prime Suspect 1973, ITV; The Last Kingdom, BBC; Make Up) play the lead roles of Thom and Mars. Rory Fleck Byrne (Vita & Virginia; Harlots, ITV, Hulu) plays Sebastian and Aaron Monaghan (Redemption of a Rogue) plays Cobcroft. Other cast includes Nick Dunning (Da Vinci’s Demons, Starz; The Tudors, Showtime) and Hugh O’Conor (Mary Shelley; Pilgrimage; Chocolat).
The film is produced by Alan Maher and John Wallace of Cowtown Pictures (Rialto) in association with Alice Lusher and Catryn Ramasut of ie ie productions (Queerama), with funding from Screen Ireland, Head Gear Films, Ffilm Cymru Wales and ROADS Entertainment. Executive producers are Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Stephen Kelliher, Sophie Green, Dearbhla Regan, Bizzy Day, Andrew Legge and Danielle Ryan.
Oona Menges (The Host) is Director of Photography. Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy will provide original songs and the score for the film.
Different for Girls
Different for Girls: a lesbian series that dramatises sex and life
“Jacquie Lawrence’s sexy lesbian La Ronde, set in and out of the households of south-west London, has been brought to life by Campbell X’s direction, and no one dies. Is that why it isn’t on TV?
As all fans of The L-Word know, lesbian drama is not (just) a genre, it’s life. And web series Different for Girls does not disappoint: it offers complete emotional involvement from the first moments, with an in-your-face vomiting scene as Cam clocks that it might be more than a hangover upsetting her stomach, and potentially upsetting her renewed relationship with Fran….
Excerpt : BFI Sight & Sound So Mayer
Awards
Won :
Diversity in Media Awards -Jury Prize -Rising star
Victoria Broom Jackdaw Productions 2017
Won :
IOWF Award.
Best Actress
Rachel Shelley 2017
Nominated :
International Online Web Fest IOWF Award
Best Directing for Campbell X (2017)
Nominated :
Web Series Festival Global Festival Award (2017)
Nominated :
Australian
LGBTI Awards (2018)
Official Selection :
BFI Flare (2017)
Official Selection :
East Village Queer Film Festival
Official Selection :
Web Series festival (2017)
Official Selection :
Imagine This Women’s international film festival (2017)
Official Selection :
UK Web Fest (2017)
Official Selection – IOWF Best Original Song (2017)
Arri Alexa , Cooke S2’s
Director: Campbell X
Producer: Felicity Milton
Production company: Jackdaw Media
DP for show runner and season
Press
THE HOST
The Host explores the dark corners of the human psyche through the eyes of Robert and Vera, both of them have secrets that lead to their demise.
Maryam Hassouni, Mike Beckingham, Dougie Poynter, Nigel Barber,
Suan-Li Ong, Togo Igawa, Daniël Boissevain, Tom Wu, Derek Jacobi, Jeroen Krabbé, Fabian Jansen, Reinout Bussemaker, Dominic Keating, Margo Stilley and Ruby Turner headline the cast of AMS Secrets – the debut crime thriller from Producer Zachary Weckstein.
Robert (Mike Beckingham) and Vera (Maryam Hassouni) try to do what’s best for the people they love and those they protect. But as the characters struggle to suppress their inner demons, a course of destruction emanates from hidden secrets that can never be escaped.
Pearl Pictures Productions
Arri Alexa Mini’s / Cooke S4’s & Angeniuex
Dir: Andy Newbery
Producer: Zachary Weckstein
Pearl Pictures Productions
Joe all alone
Joe All Alone (adapted from the book by Joanna Nadin of the same name) :
Reality can be a harsh thing. Joe All Alone is a brilliant representation of that.
Following a boy, Joe, who has never known his father, and never loved his mother’s new boyfriends, this book is indeed realistic fiction, where the world is a big place, that does not know of his problems nor seem to care about them. Until, of course, Joe finds himself all alone when his mother and boyfriend claim to have gone on vacation.
(The Guardian – 22 Nov 2015)
Director : Beryl Richards
Producer: Nadine Marsh-Edwards
Production Company: Zodiak Kids
Awards
WON :
Best drama — BAFTA Childrens awards 2018
WON:
Best Childrens – RTS Awards Northern Ireland 2018
WON 2nd prize:
Professional jury Live action TV Chicago International Childrens Film Festival
Nominated :
Best Director – BAFTA Childrens awards 2018
Nominated :
Best Young Performer – BAFTA Childrens awards 2018
Arri Alexa Mini // Angenieux Optimo zooms
Elen
EBU / S4C
ie ie productions
‘The smile you send out comes back to you’. Elen is a story of friendship and acceptance, from inside the mind of a 10-year-old girl with Epilepsy and a vivid imagination.
The film was first broadcast 15th May 2018 on S4C as part of Epilepsy Awareness week, then again as part of the European Broadcast Union Children’s Drama Series 2018.
Writer & Composer: Lisa Jên Brown
Director: Andy Newbury
Producer: Alice Lusher
Production company: ie ie productions
Awards
Nominee :
BAFTA Cymru 2019
WINNER :
Best International Short Sharjah International Children’s Film Festival 2018
Official Selection :
TIFF Kids International Film Festival 2018
Official Selection :
Prix Jeunesse International 2018
Official Selection :
Mumbai Film Festival 2018
IntoFilm Festival 2018
Official Selection :
BSC Emerging Cinematographer 2017
Arri Alexa Mini , Angenieux Optimo
THE VERITY
When a deceased mother discovers notes on her daughter’s grave that suggests that she might still be alive, she enlists the help of her sister to discover who may be behind them.
PRODUCER – DEVY NILSON
WRITER / DIRECTOR – LYNDON IVES
SociaL Suicide
Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, who starred in the 1968 Romeo and Juliet film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, are reuniting for the first time in 46 years for a modern take on the film, Social Suicide, playing the Capulet parents of the character based on Juliet.
Social Suicide is a thriller inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, centering on a police investigation of the murder-suicides of social-media-savvy teenagers. The police investigate the romance and tragedy through videos, vlogs and snapchats, but soon discover nothing is as it seems.
Director : Bruce Webb
Produceer Janet Wells
Press
