Award-winning Cinematographer, accomplished director as well as stills photographer, Malik Hassan Sayeed pushes the boundaries of the visual world with his nuanced work. He recently completed cinematography for the film After the Fall directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Julia Roberts.

Sayeed began his career as a gaffer on Malcolm X but was quickly promoted to Cinematographer on Spike Lee’s feature Clockers, making history as the youngest Black Cinematographer to shoot a feature film. Speaking to Sayeed’s talent, Lee explains, “What I like most about Malik’s style is that it’s uncontaminated.” The duo went on to collaborate on Girl 6, He Got Game, and The Original Kings of Comedy. Additionally, Sayeed was the 2nd Unit Cinematographer on Stanley Kubrick’s final film Eyes Wide Shut as well as Andrew Niccol’s award-winning film Gattaca.

Sayeed contributed to Black is King, Beyoncé’s visual album inspired by The Lion King for Disney+. He lensed Beyoncé’s Formation music video, which won the 2016 Grand Prix prize at the inaugural Cannes Lions Entertainment for Music Awards and earned Sayeed a 2016 Camerimage nomination for Best Cinematography in a Music Video.

Sayeed’s short film August 28: A Day In The Life Of A People for director Ava DuVernay premiered at the grand opening for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture. As part of the acclaimed Little Minx Exquisite Corpse series he wrote, co-directed and lensed the experimental short film She Walked Calmly Disappearing into the Darkness. This was Sayeed’s short film debut as well as the first short to open the Sundance Film Festival and served as inspiration for Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning feature, Moonlight.

For documentaries, Sayeed shot Dreams are Colder than Death for director Arthur Jafa, which considers what it means to be Black fifty years after Martin Luther King’s infamous March on Washington.

Commercially, Sayeed has worked with high profile brands such as Chanel, Apple, Nike and AT&T. He won a D&AD Yellow Pencil, the highest award for Cinematography on the Beats by Dre spot “You Love Me” and was nominated for an AICP award for Cinematography for his work on Nike’s “Equality” spot both directed by Melina Matsoukas.

Sayeed is represented globally by DDA.