Xavi Giménez (born 1970) is a Spanish cinematographer and occasional film director. He is known for his work in Spanish genre cinema and on international productions, including The Nameless (1999), Intacto (2001), The Machinist (2004), Transsiberian (2008), Agora (2009), Red Lights (2012), The Invisible Guest (2016) and Marrowbone (2017). In 2012, Variety selected him as one of its ten cinematographers to watch.
Giménez won the Goya Award for Best Cinematography for Agora and was previously nominated for Intacto. He has also received two awards for best cinematography at the Sitges Film Festival, for The Nameless and The Machinist.
Early life and career Giménez was born in Barcelona in 1970. He entered film school intending to study sound, but changed to cinematography during his first month. Early in his career he photographed short films, including Jordi Mollà's Walter Peralta (1993).
His first feature-film credits as director of photography emerged during the 1990s. He became associated with the growth of Spanish horror and fantasy cinema through his collaboration with director Jaume Balagueró and the production company Filmax. Their first feature together, The Nameless, won Giménez the 1999 Sitges award for best cinematography, shared with Yujiro Yajima for Samurai Fiction. Giménez and Balagueró later worked together on the English-language horror films Darkness (2002) and Fragile (2005). A study of contemporary Spanish cinema described the cold, murky photography of The Nameless as an important part of the film's atmosphere.
In 2001, Giménez photographed Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's supernatural thriller Intacto, which brought him his first Goya nomination. His international profile increased with The Machinist, an English-language psychological thriller directed by Brad Anderson. Although set in the United States, it was filmed in and around Barcelona. Its desaturated palette, deep shadows and industrial locations were used to reinforce the protagonist's alienation and deteriorating mental state. Giménez won the 2004 Sitges award for best cinematography for the film. He reunited with Anderson on the thriller Transsiberian.
His other work during the 2000s included Javier Fesser's comedy Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure (2003), Balagueró's Fragile, Nacho Cerdà's The Abandoned (2006) and Antonio Banderas's Summer Rain (2006).
Later work Giménez photographed Alejandro Amenábar's historical drama Agora, which was screened out of competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. The production won seven Goya Awards, including best cinematography for Giménez. He later worked on Rodrigo Cortés's Red Lights, Alberto Arvelo's The Liberator, Fernando González Molina's Palm Trees in the Snow, Oriol Paulo's The Invisible Guest and Mirage, and Sergio G. Sánchez's Marrowbone. His later international credits include To Dust (2018), Neil Jordan's Marlowe (2022), Journey to Bethlehem (2023) and Peter Cattaneo's The Penguin Lessons (2024).
For television, Giménez photographed the first two episodes of the series Penny Dreadful, both directed by J. A. Bayona. The pilot episode, "Night Work", won the inaugural First Look television pilots competition at the 2015 Camerimage festival.
Giménez made his feature directing debut with the 2010 drama Cruzando el límite, written by Pere Saballs and produced by Filmax. The film follows a troubled teenager sent to a behavioural rehabilitation centre that uses abusive methods.
Approach to cinematography Variety has described Giménez's work in terms of dramatic lighting and inventive composition. His work has frequently involved using light, colour and texture to establish a film's psychological or historical environment. For The Machinist, the visual design relied on a restricted, desaturated palette and shadow; the locations around Barcelona were framed to create an intentionally displaced American industrial setting.
For Agora, Giménez and Amenábar chose photochemical film rather than digital capture. Giménez divided the lighting concept into a brighter first part associated with the intellectual world of Hypatia and a darker, more contrast-heavy second part accompanying the rise of religious conflict. He identified the social photography of Sebastião Salgado as one of the production's visual references. Discussing The Penguin Lessons, he described the photography as deliberately simple and restrained, with composition and lighting intended to follow the characters' emotional development.
Selected filmography As cinematographer Year Title Director 1998 Genesis (short film) Nacho Cerdà 1999 The Nameless Jaume Balagueró 2001 Intacto Juan Carlos Fresnadillo 2002 Darkness Jaume Balagueró 2003 Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure Javier Fesser 2003 Killing Words Laura Mañá 2004 The Machinist Brad Anderson 2005 Fragile Jaume Balagueró 2006 The Abandoned Nacho Cerdà 2006 Summer Rain Antonio Banderas 2008 Transsiberian Brad Anderson 2009 Agora Alejandro Amenábar 2012 Red Lights Rodrigo Cortés 2012 I Want You Fernando González Molina 2013 The Liberator Alberto Arvelo 2014 Penny Dreadful (2 episodes) J. A. Bayona 2015 Palm Trees in the Snow Fernando González Molina 2016 The Invisible Guest Oriol Paulo 2017 Marrowbone Sergio G. Sánchez 2018 Mirage Oriol Paulo 2018 To Dust Shawn Snyder 2019 The Legacy of the Bones Fernando González Molina 2020 Offering to the Storm Fernando González Molina 2022 Marlowe Neil Jordan 2023 Journey to Bethlehem Adam Anders 2024 The Penguin Lessons Peter Cattaneo
As director Year Title Notes 2010 Cruzando el límite Feature directing debut
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 1999 Sitges Film Festival Best Cinematography The Nameless (shared) 2002 Goya Awards Best Cinematography Intacto 2004 Sitges Film Festival Best Cinematography The Machinist 2010 Goya Awards Best Cinematography Agora 2015 Camerimage First Look – Best Television Pilot Penny Dreadful: Night Work 2016 Gaudí Awards Best Cinematography Palm Trees in the Snow
References
External links
Xavi Giménez at Artistry