BRADFORD YOUNG

Cinematographer - credits include Selma and Arrival

Bradford Young has created a shockwave in the film industry with his work as a cinematographer on films that include Selma, Solo: A Stars Story, and Arrival.

Even though Young moved to Chicago when he was 15, he claims Kentucky as a paramount influence in his career. In a 2017 interview with The Courier-Journal on the precipice of attending the 89th Academy Awards as a first-time nominee for his work on Arrival, Young said, “In every frame of film, I can point to Louisville, Kentucky." 

At the same time, Young recognizes something unique about the light in Kentucky saying, "I think about my grandmother's house on Greenwood Avenue and scenes during her wonderful parties. Or I envision the light in my Aunt Marie's kitchen. When I am stuck on a technical issue making a film, I access those memories and I know I am doing the right thing."

That overall reverence of natural light in his films has become something of a trademark for Young. He used memories of his childhood bedroom to inform tender scenes in Arrival because he still felt “every inch of that memory” and how the ambient light combined with his mother’s hand rubbing his back imparted the same feeling he wanted to bring to the scene before him.

At the end of the day, Young realizes that he has blazed a trail like many black filmmakers before him and he hopes that his trail leads more people from his hometown to join him in telling stories to the world through cinema.

"I came to realize that Louisville is as spectacular, beautiful and virtuous as New York or L.A. and the voice that I use as a filmmaker and artist from Kentucky is just as valid as anyone from some other place. Don't throw your small town under the bus. Use it as a backdrop for your story, as a safe space to go and collaborate with other artists who also want to help tell your story...I am hoping this next generation, especially kids from Louisville, use film to tell our story.”

To learn more, check out our blog The Butterfly Effect.