Stefan Czapsky

Stefan Czapsky is an American Cinematographer of Ukrainian descent. At the age of five months he emigrated from Germany to the USA as a DP of a different sort, a Displaced Person, settling in Cleveland Ohio. His interest in film making began at Case Western Reserve University where he took an introduction to film class and fell in love with the art form.

Graduating with a BFA in Humanities with a concentration in film history and criticism, Stefan left Cleveland for NYC to attend the graduate film studies program at Columbia University. There he made the transition from studying films to making them in the independent film market. Czapsky worked as an Assistant Cameraman, Gaffer and Key Grip on productions with directors including Martin Scorsese (AFTER HOURS) John Sayles (MATEWAN) and Larry Cohen (Q). After 11 years of working in supportive positions, he shot his first feature film ON THE EDGE starring Bruce Dern and Pam Grier. This was followed by Errol Morris’s groundbreaking documentary THE THIN BLUE LINE, the cult classic VAMPIRE’S KISS with Nicholas Cage, and LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN starring Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Stefan has lensed visually iconic films such as EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, BATMAN RETURNS, and ED WOOD with director Tim Burton. For ED WOOD Czapsky won four Cinematography awards from the National Society of Film Critics, as well as the Los Angeles, New York, and Boston Film Critics. In addition to the emotional MAX, Czapsky’s features include comedic films MATILDA and BLADES OF GLORY along with the action films SAFE and FIGHTING.

Stefan’s TV work has included NBC’s SHADES OF BLUE, WB’s GOD FRIENDED ME, Dick Wolf’s LAW AND ORDER ORGANIZD CRIME, Queen Latifah’s THE EQUALIZER, and QUANTICO.

For his commercial work Czapsky has won four CLIO Best Cinematography awards, the Communication Arts Award Of Excellence, and an AICP Best Cinematography Award as well as being an AICP at MOMA Honoree.

Stefan lives in NYC.