| Birth Date: | 21 February 1950 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Occupation: | Film director, cinematographer |
| Alma Mater: | UCLA Film School |
| Known: | time-lapse cinematography |
Louie Schwartzberg (born February 21, 1950) is an American director, producer, and cinematographer. Since 2004, Schwartzberg has worked as a director for films, including the 2019 film, Fantastic Fungi, and the 2014 Netflix series, Moving Art.
Schwartzberg is recognized as a pioneer in high-end time-lapse cinematography. Schwartzberg is a visual artist who focuses on connections between humans and the subtleties of nature and environment.
Schwartzberg grew up in Brooklyn, and his parents were Jewish Holocaust survivors. He graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in the early seventies.[1] Schwartzberg chaired and served as executive director of the Action! Vote Coalition and served on the board of the Earth Communications Office and the Environmental Media Association. He is a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
Schwartzberg is credited by many with pioneering the contemporary stock footage industry by founding Energy Film Library, a global company, which was acquired by Getty Images in 1997.
In 2012 completed Wings of Life, a documentary feature for Disneynature, narrated by Meryl Streep. It won Best Theatrical Program at the Jackson Hole Science Media Awards 2012, and also won a Best Cinematography Roscar Award. The film reveals the fragile relationship between flowers and their pollination partners.
In November, 2013 Mysteries of the Unseen World, a 3D-IMAX film with National Geographic was released in theaters worldwide. The film is a journey into invisible worlds that are too slow, too fast, too small and too vast for the human eye to see.[2]
In 2013, Schwartzberg founded the company Moving Art, which produces High Definition 2D and 3D movies featuring nature, cityscapes, and visual effects. He also founded the large format film company, BlackLight Films, featuring content such as documentaries and children's programming. Projects include America's Heart and Soul a story of Americans who are remarkable in their everyday lives, for Walt Disney Pictures; “America!”, a 26-episode half-hour series for The Hallmark Channel; and “Chasing the Light,” a one-hour documentary that aired on PBS.
On April 6, 2014, he appeared in an interview with Oprah Winfrey on Super Soul Sunday (OWN TV) episode titled, The World Beyond What We Can See.[3] For Netflix, he also made the series called Moving Art with six topics; flowers, forests, oceans, deserts, underwater and waterfalls. The seventh topic, about mushrooms, is the film Fantastic Fungi, released in 2019. Netflix has an additional six topics lined up: Koh Samui, Iceland, Africa, Angkor Wat, whales and dolphins, Big Sur and the Galapagos.
Schwartzberg is active in the TED community, having spoken in 2011 at the following: TEDxSoCal, TEDxSF and TEDxJacksonhole, TEDxSMU, and TED Vancouver in March 2014.[4] He has delivered speeches at NASA, Global Spa and Wellness Summit, The Nantucket Project and Bioneers. His YouTube videos have collected over 60 million views.
| Year | Movie Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Fantastic Fungi | Director[5] | |
| 2019 | Moving Art | Director | Season 3 |
| 2015 | Moving Art: Waterfalls | Director | |
| 2015 | Moving Art: Underwater | Executive producer | Mostly focuses on sea animals |
| 2014 | A World of Solutions | Director | |
| 2014 | What's Possible | Director | |
| 2014 | 4 original documentaries for Netflix: Moving Art
| Director | |
| 2013 | Mysteries of the Unseen World | Director | |
| 2012 | Director | ||
| 2006 | Chasing the Light | ||
| 2004 | Disney presents America's Heart and Soul | Director | |
| 2002 | Men in Black II | additional cinematography | |
| 2002 | Stuart Little 2 | additional cinematography | |
| 2000 | additional cinematography | ||
| 2000 | America! for Hallmark Channel | ||
| 1999 | Any Given Sunday | additional cinematography | |
| 1992 | Oceans of Air for Discovery Channel | ||
| 1988 | Visual Effects Supervisor | ||
| 1985 | The Heavenly Kid | visual effects | |
| 1984 | The Ice Pirates | time lapse photography | |
| 1984 | The Glitter Dome | time lapse photography | |
| 1983 | The Jupiter Menace | time lapse photography | |
| 1982 | Koyaanisqatsi | time lapse photography | |
| 1980 | time lapse photography | ||
| 1980 | Altered States | time lapse photography | |
| 1980 | time lapse photography | ||
| 1977 | Aliens from Spaceship Earth |
| Year | Title | Publisher | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Black Light Films | ||
| 2013 | A Good Day: A Gift of Gratitude | Sterling Ethos |
| Year | Award | Nominated work | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | NASA Exploring Leadership Colloquium: Award of Honor | ||
| 2014 | Jackson Hole Science Media Awards | IMMERSIVE IMAX 3D | |
| 2014 | Dimension 3 Festival: Best 4K Film | ||
| 2014 | NAPPC Pollinator Protector Award | ||
| 2013 | AwareGuide Editor's Choice for Top Transformational Film of the Year | Wings of Life | |
| 2013 | AwareGuide Inspiration Award | Wings of Life | |
| 2012 | Best Theatrical Program at the Jackson Hole Science Media Awards | Wings of Life | |
| 2011 | Wild Talk Africa Roscar Award | Wings of Life | |
| 2005 | Movieguide Awards Best Film Documentary | America's Heart and Soul | |
| 2005 | Movieguide Awards 10 Best Movies of 2004 for Families | America's Heart and Soul | |
| 2004 | Top 70 Cinematographers, On Film Kodak Salute Series | ||
| 2001 | Hallmark Entertainment Telly Awards | America! | |
| 1994 | Clio | Public Service Earth Communications Office “The Power of One” | |
| 1994 | Clio | Public Service Earth Communications Office “Connections” | |
| 1994 | The Mobius Award | The Power of One | |
| 1992 | Emmy nominated | Discovery Channel: Oceans of Air | |
| 1992 | Telly Award | We’ll Amaze You | |
| 1990 | Gold Promax Medallion | The Spirit of Hampton Roads | |
| 1989 | International Monitor Award for Best Paint Film Design | “America" for Baskin-Robbins |