NARRATIVE REEL
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Darius Shu is a British East Asian cinematographer based in London. He loves telling humanistic and poetic stories with striking imagery. Darius focuses his storytelling on driving societal conversations forward. He does this by incorporating a blend of social awareness and surrealism into his films.
Through the power of visual storytelling, Darius aims to create a positive representation of underrepresented communities. Some notable examples of his recent projects as a cinematographer include the BAFTA-nominated ITVX documentary Always, Asifa (2023, the Netflix documentary Peach Paradise (2022), Queer Parivaar (2021), winner of the Best British Film award at the Iris Prize in 2022 and Where We Came From (2024) starring Emmy-winning Archie Panjabi.
He is the 2nd Unit Director of Photography on Justin Lin's upcoming film 'Last Days'.
Darius's directorial debut was the short film His Hands (2019), nominated for Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Film Festival. His second short film, I Am Norman (2021), was selected at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
MARK GATISS
"A beguilingly beautiful gem.... shots are ravishing to look at and haunts the memory long after."
UK FILM REVIEW
"There's a naturalistic intimate quality to Shu’s beautiful cinematography"
ATTITUDE
"Shu manages to convey an incredible sense of mood and feeling...it's beautiful, modern, stylish."
INDIE SHORTS MAG
"Darius Shu's cinematography is simply poetic"
WEDIO
"Through a poetic stance, he finds inspiration in paintings and photography and puts it into his cinematography, implementing retro styles and vivid colours to his work as a unique art of expression."
notable film festival selection (Oscar & BAFTA Qualifying) and awards
THE LIME GREEN SHIRT
BFI Flare Film Festival 2024
ALWAYS, ASIFA
Nominated: Best Short Form Programme at BAFTA TV Awards 2023
QUEER PARIVAAR
Winner: Best British Short at Iris Prize Film Festival 2022
BFI Flare Film Festival 2022
Outfest LA Film Festival 2022
London Short Film Festival 2023
Durban International Film Festival 2022
Outfest Fusion Los Angeles 2022
San Diego International Film Festival 2022
Tasveer South Asian Film Festival 2022
STOCKHOLM
BFI Flare Film Festival 2022
Best Cinematography at LA LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2021
PEACH PARADISE
Seattle International Film Festival 2023
Nominated: Best International at Iris Prize Film Festival 2022
Bolton International Film Festival 2022
I AM NORMAN
Rhode Island International Film Festival 2021
MICAL
LA Shorts International Film Festival 2020
HIS HANDS
Nominated: Best Narrative Short at Tribeca Film Festival 2019
SECRET CHILD
Nominated: Best Period Piece at Hollyshorts Film Festival 2018
Best Cinematography at European Cinematography Awards
GENERAL ENQUIRIES
PR ENQUIRIES
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