Biography

Director of Photography Liz Dory has shot numerous documentaries, ranging in cinematic style from formal, pictorial composition to verite hand-held camerawork. Equally adept at manipulating various presenting formats from mini DV to HD and 35mm, Liz continues to build her expertise with an inclusive list of cameras, using everything from a Canon Scoopic to the latest HD and prosumer camcorder systems.

As cinematographer, Liz is pleased to announce that alongside her work for Katrina Browne and Traces of the Trade: A Story of the Deep North, her cinematography is featured in the documentary An American Solider for filmmaker Edet Belzberg, also premiering at Sundance 2008 in competition.

More cinematography work is represented in Refuge, a film about Tibetan refugees featuring the Dalai Lama, Melissa Mathison and Martin Scorcese, and with the directing and producing team of David and Laure Shapiro, makers of Keep The River on Your Right, winner of the Truer than Fiction Award at the Independent Spirit Awards, and more wins at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and Hamptons Film Festival, amongst others. She is currently in production with the Shapiros on their latest film, Finishing Heaven for director Mark Mann. Her camerawork is featured in broadcast documentaries for Nova, The Discovery Channel and National Geographic and television presenters such as 60 Minutes.

Liz graduated with a degree in English Literature and Cinema from Denison University in Ohio and officially joined the film industry in 1989 as a feature camera assistant on films with notable cinematographers such as Peter James, ASC, and Michael Chapman, ASC. Running parallel to her feature work, Liz worked on the critically acclaimed documentaries JAZZ, Frank Lloyd Wright, Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony: Not For Ourselves Alone for director Ken Burns and cinematographer Buddy Squires and the series New York for director Ric Burns. She has travelled extensively, assisting Academy Award nominated Christine Choy on location in Kathmandu, Nepal and profiling the work of architect Kisho Kurokawa in Japan. As Director of Photography, Liz supervised principal photography of Traces of the Trade: A Story of the Deep North in Africa and Cuba with simultaneous 2-camera shooting and full lighting and grip crews in each foreign location.