Tim Metzger is an Emmy-winning director of photography and an Academy Award nominated filmmaker.
Over the past 15 years Tim has filmed and led crews in more than 25 countries and his work has appeared on every major network and streamer. Having worked as a gaffer before advancing to DP, Tim combines deep experience in lighting with a love of cinematic verite, driven to tell authentic human stories that spark conversation across divides.
Tim won the 2024 Emmy for Lighting Direction with his recent NBC/Universal feature documentary To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb. His work as director of photography includes many Emmy-nominated series and features, from The Story of God with Morgan Freeman — Nat Geo’s highest rated series of all time — to Discovery's 6-part series RISING: Rebuilding Ground Zero for EP Steven Spielberg.
Over the past 15 years Tim has filmed and led crews in more than 25 countries and his work has appeared on every major network and streamer. Having worked as a gaffer before advancing to DP, Tim combines deep experience in lighting with a love of cinematic verite, driven to tell authentic human stories that spark conversation across divides.
Tim won the 2024 Emmy for Lighting Direction with his recent NBC/Universal feature documentary To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb. His work as director of photography includes many Emmy-nominated series and features, from The Story of God with Morgan Freeman — Nat Geo’s highest rated series of all time — to Discovery's 6-part series RISING: Rebuilding Ground Zero for EP Steven Spielberg.
Tim shot and produced the Oscar-nominated documentary Sun Come Up, the story of some of the world’s first climate refugees. Sun Come Up aired on HBO, screened theatrically in 30 US cities, and national press hailed the film as "engrossing," "beautifully cinematic" and "intensely human."
With Sun Come Up director Jennifer Redfearn, Tim formed Red Antelope Films and their latest feature doc is the Emmy-nominated PBS/Independent Lens film, APART - the story of three incarcerated mothers coming home to their children after years of separation.
Tim’s work also includes award-winning films Li Tong, a scripted feature set in Beijing, and Leh Wi Tok, a documentary following independent radio journalists in post-war Sierra Leone. Other career highlights include riding in helicopters with Bill Nye, befriending giant tortoises in the Galápagos, and crossing the Siberian Arctic aboard a Russian nuclear icebreaker. Tim co-taught NYU's semester-long immersive doc production course in Havana, Cuba for three years and recently co-led a cinematography workshop in The Gambia.
Commercial / branded work includes projects for Pixar, Intel, TED, San Pellegrino, Puma, Warner Bros, Delta Airlines, Sonoma County Tourism and the Bezos Earth Fund.