Sean Price Williams is a New York-based cinematographer who has earned a reputation as one of the most consistently interesting craftsmen in the industry. Working across formats, Williams never fails to create distinct, dynamic images. Williams has been elevating micro-budget cinema for over a decade, helping cash-strapped filmmakers create an exciting visual language.
His stellar reputation in NY’s underground has led to more high-profile collaborations with the Safdie brothers and Abel Ferrara. The grainy, frenetic camerawork of Good Time is some of Williams’ most memorable work and no one working today is more adept at capturing New York’s streets. For Ferrara’s Zeros and Ones, the digital textures Williams creates are the perfect fit for the paranoid tech-thriller. In 2022, he shot Owen Kline’s feature debut Funny Pages alongside Hunter Zimny, making excellent use of 16mm to craft a tactile, suitably lo-fi aesthetic.
Williams is also one of the most knowledgeable and film-literate names in the industry, with his legendary “Top 1000 Films” list representing something of a canon for a particular subsect of cinephiles. There’s been talk of Williams directing down the line, an undeniably exciting prospect, but we’re more than satisfied with Williams’ continually boundary-pushing work as a cinematographer.
Always, surprising, and always innovative, Williams’ involvement in a project immediately makes it worth seeing.