Nikolaus Summerer Welcomed as New ASC Member

Nikolaus Summerer, ASC, an ASC Award nominee for his work on the series 1899, recalls being “completely changed” by a viewing of The Shining when he was a teenager. “I was so struck by the artful composition of images and the camera movements that from that moment on, I watched movies differently and paid more attention to the craft of filmmaking, especially the cinematography.”

A formal education in cinematography wasn’t available in Germany when he was ready for university, so he applied for an internship at Arri Rental in Munich and was assigned to serve as a lighting-technician intern on a TV series, where he learned the fundamentals of life on set. Sensing his enthusiasm for their department, the camera team took him under their wing and taught him the basics of camerawork and assisting; in the series’ second season, he was a loader and 2nd AC. The mentorship he received during subsequent jobs at Arri Rental in Munich and Arri-CSC in New York expanded his understanding, and when the University of Television and Film Munich began offering a cinematography concentration, he enrolled.

At the school, Summerer shot many short films and made a fortuitous connection with directing student Baran bo Odar, who has since become a regular collaborator. They have partnered on the features Unter der Sonne, The Silence and Who Am I and the Netflix series Dark and 1899. Summerer won the Slamdance Kodak Vision Award for Unter der Sonne and a German Camera Award for Who Am I, and he received Camerimage Golden Frog nominations for Dark and 1899.

Summerer’s credits also include the documentary Silkroad; the features Highway to Hellas, The Siege of Jadotville, Color Book and The Prince, and an episode of HBO’s Dune Prophecy.

Find Summerer’s website here and his Instagram here.

View the current ASC membership roster here.