Adam Holender

He was born 13 November 1937 in Kraków, Poland, the son of a judge.^[3] In 1940,^[2] he and his family were deported to a Siberian labor camp, and not allowed to return to Kraków until 1947.^[4]

Holender studied architecture before enrolling at Łódź Film School, from where he graduated in 1964.^[4]

Holender worked on short films by Krzysztof Zanussi and Roman Polański, and in the camera department of several Polish films and television series, notably Four Tank-Men and a Dog.

He moved to New York City in the 1960s, working as a truck driver and later finding a job as a grip at a commercial production company, later shooting documentaries for the BBC and CBS.^[2]

Midnight Cowboy was Holender's first feature film cinematography assignment: he was recommended to director John Schlesinger by Holender's friend Polanski.^[5] Holender later recalled:

Schlesinger turned out to be a great director to work with. (...) He likes the dirt of New York life, I took him on his first subway trip, we wandered around the streets and observed reality. I knew we were making a good film, but that it was going to be an Oscar-winning film, I had no idea.^[2]

According to Schlesinger, his inspiration to make the movie came from the 1967 Yugoslav film When I Am Dead and Gone by a Serbian director Živojin Pavlović.^[6]

At the 2007 Camerimage Festival in Toruń, Holender received a special award "to the Polish Cinematographer For Immense Contribution To The Art of Film".^[7]