Biography

Manuel Alberto Claro is a Chilean-Danish cinematographer best known for his work with director Lars von Trier on Melancholia (2011), Nymphomaniac: Vol 1 (2013), and The House That Jack Built (2018). Claro also shot the 2014 comedy Top Five starring Chris Rock and is known for his work with director Christoffer Boe on the feature films Everything Will Be Fine (2010), Allegro (2005) and Reconstruction (2003), which went on to win the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Claro has won numerous international accolades for his work. With an impressive 24 nominations and 12 wins, Claro has won awards at the Venice Film Festival, Camerimage, the Cannes Film Festival, and the European Film Awards. Additionally Claro's movies have premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival.

Recent credits include The Chorus Girls directed by Ditte Hansen and Louise Mieritz for TV2 Danmark in February, The Pact (2021) directed by Billie August for Motor Productions, five episodes of The Kingdom Exodus (Season 3, 2022) directed by Lars Von Trier for Zentropa Entertainment and A Taste of Hunger (2021) directed by Christoffer Boe for Zentropa Entertainment.

Claro has lensed commercials for many brands including H&M, Sony, IKEA, Canon, Nokia, Maersk, Momondo, Persil, Philadelphia, Synoptik, Tulip, Velux, Zeta. He has shot music videos for a wide range of artists, including FKA Twigs, Paloma Faith, Rhye, Sons of Raphael.

Born in Santiago, Chile and raised in Denmark, Claro studied still photography in Milan and worked as an assistant photographer before attending the prestigious National Film School of Denmark to study cinematography. Claro currently resides in Copenhagen with his partner and two children. He is fluent in Danish, English and Spanish.