About
Photo by Sandra Franco
Nelisa Alcalde is a Spanish cinematographer based between Edinburgh and London, and a member of Illuminatrix Rising. Originally from Córdoba, with a heart somewhere between Andalucía and Extremadura, she brings a stubborn curiosity to her work. Most recently she was B Camera and Second Unit DoP on Wolf Bay, a Storyboard Studios drama for BBC Scotland and BBC ALBA.
Her route into cinematography was not completely straight. She first came to the UK to study photography, then moved through Edinburgh, Cuba, Argentina and Prague before finding her place behind the camera. She holds a BA in Film and TV from Edinburgh College of Art and an MFA in Cinematography from FAMU, where she shot narrative and documentary work on 16mm and 35mm film and developed a love for analogue discipline, for images carefully planned but still allowed to breathe.
When money became tight during her studies, Barrandov became another kind of film school. Working as an assistant camera on productions including The Painted Bird and A Boy Called Christmas gave her a deep respect for the camera department and the conviction that prep is where a cinematographer earns freedom on set.
Her graduation film, Honey Bunny Duracell, which she directed and lensed on 35mm, follows three-time Czech national boxing champion Lenka Kardová. It won the Art of a New Era Award from the Czech Association of Cinematographers and was nominated for the Casarotto Ramsay Award at Watersprite. The film reflects what pulls her in, women with force, physicality, vulnerability, and characters who keep going when life pushes back.
Since returning to the UK, she has lensed and co-directed Isabel's Independence for BBC Scotland and the Scottish Documentary Institute, shared credits on The Boy and the Suit of Lights, winner of the Grand Jury Award for First Feature at Sheffield DocFest, and shot All Up There, directed by Bonnie McRae, winner of Best Director at BFI Future Film Festival. She was also selected for the Sean Connery Talent Lab, where she shot Bubbles.
Nelisa has completed the ScreenSkills Mentoring Programme with Vanessa Whyte BSC and the BSC Mentoring Programme with Benjamin Kračun BSC. She is drawn to stories between the funny and the wounded, outsiders, fighters, awkward tenderness, and images that feel emotionally true rather than simply beautiful.
1x Brain
(with different set ups and moods depending on the project)
2x Eyes
(with an array of ways of seeing depending of the feeling)
