Laela Kilbourn

Director of photography Laela Kilbourn has accumulated feature credits including Best Cinematography award winner SWIM TEAM, and seven Sundance Film Festival documentary competition premieres, such as DuPont-Columbia Journalism Award winner THIS IS HOME: A REFUGEE STORY, Peabody Award winning HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO, and Emmy nominated WORD WARS. She also shot SYNC OR SWIM, winner of the Billie Award for Journalism from the Women’s Sports Foundation, and filmed History’s eleven part docuseries SANDHOGS. Her award-winning narrative work includes CRABS IN A BARREL, featured on HBO Max; THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF QUEENS, awarded Best Narrative Short Film at Katra Latinx Festival; PARK SLOPE MOMS, winner of the NYWIFT/iWomanTV Best Dark Comedy and Audience awards; DEATH OF A FOOL; and JUNE WEDDINGS. She has worked on projects for FX, NBC, PBS, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Epix, Amazon, AMC, A&E, TBS, Nick Jr., NickMom, ESPN, Disney, History, MTV, VH1, and WeTV. A member of the International Cinematographers Guild IATSE Local 600, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, New York Women in Film & Television, and the International Collective of Female+ Cinematographers, she was profiled in the ICG Magazine feature “Generation Next” and in Indiewire’s “8 More Female Cinematographers You Should Know About”, and has served as a juror for the Brooklyn International Film Festival, as a panelist on cinematography at the Canon Creative Studio and DOC NYC PRO, and as a guest speaker at The New School. She has a degree in social anthropology from Harvard University