Jaro Waldeck, Cinematographer

Jaro’s first camera was a compact Kodak bought with money she earned from a summer job. At the age eighteen she emigrated from her small town in the Czech Republic, first to the UK, then on to the US where she took English language classes, and worked as an Au Pair. A family she worked for suggested that she study photography and when she was accepted by a college, she was thrilled. Nobody in her family had studied at third level. Jaro realised her true passion lay in cinematography. After ten years in the US, she moved back to the Czech Republic to study for her Masters in Cinematography. Then, inspired by the simplicity and honesty of the film Once, she moved to Ireland, hoping to get an opportunity to work with some of the film’s creative team. Very quickly, she was embraced by the Irish film community, making successful music videos and shorts. Nowadays she is one of the best cinematographers in Ireland. Her award winning films are being screened at festivals internationally. 

Globally, the role of cinematographer (or director of photography) is so male-dominated that it’s one of the few jobs on a film set still stuck with a gendered title - ‘cameraman’ is as persistent as ‘best boy’ - and the Oscar category for camerawork, cinematography, has been called the toughest Oscar ceiling to crack. There were no female members of the American Society of Cinematographers until 1980, and 2018 is the first year ever that a woman was nominated for an Oscar in cinematography - Rachel Morrisson for Mudbound.

Photo: Beta Bajgart