Michael Downey is a two-time Emmy nominated cinematographer, director and producer working on feature documentaries, series, short films and commercials. His work has been featured on A&E, BBC, Channel 4, Disney+, HBO, National Geographic, The New York Times, PBS, VICE; and his clients include various production companies and studios.

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Michael Downey is a two-time Emmy nominated cinematographer, director and producer working on feature documentaries, series, short films and commercials. His work has been featured on A&E, BBC, Channel 4, Disney+, HBO, National Geographic, The New York Times, PBS, VICE; and his clients include various production companies and studios.

Downey's most recent conflict work covered the Russian invasion of Ukraine for The New York Times, of which the staff coverage received a Pulitzer for international news coverage of the invasion of Ukraine, and Downey was the recipient of an Edward R. Murrow Award for similar coverage in 2023. Following his work during the invasion, Downey worked as a cinematographer and field producer on the feature documentary ‘Defiant,’ with Academy Award nominated filmmakers Karim Amer and Mike Learner, and Academy Award winning producer for ‘Navalny’, Odessa Rae. The film, which premiered at TIFF, offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the war in Ukraine and roles of key world leaders in the war. Following those projects Downey worked as cinematographer on Frontline’s feature on Elon Musk and WSJ’s feature on Wagner Group, both of which were nominated for an Emmy in 2024. Downey's first work on a documentary feature was in 2015 with Academy Award winning filmmaker Eva Orner on her film ‘Chasing Asylum’ as a segment DP for Lebanon. The film received an AACTA Award for Best Feature Length Documentary.

In 2022, Downey received Picture of the Year International’s Documentary Award of Excellence for his short documentary on the dying bird language in northern Turkey. Later that year Downey DOP on the blue-chip six-part series titled ‘Lift the Ice’, an adventure/science series which was filmed across five continents in some of the most remote places in the world for Beach House Pictures and Curiosity Studios.

Additionally, he was approached by Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Rita Baghdadi to assist as an additional cinematographer on her film ‘Sirens,’ a coming-of-age documentary and Sundance selection for 2021.

In 2018, Downey worked on his first series with Chef Nigel Slater OBE as DP for BBC2.

His earlier work saw him cover major political events in the MENA region, such as the civil wars in Libya and Syria, the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon, the 2011 Arab Spring uprising in Egypt, as well as the conflict in Iraq. Read Less