Biography
Léonce-Henri Burel was a French cinematographer. He was born on 23 November 1892 in Indre, Loire-Atlantique, and died on 21 March 1977 in Mougins, Alpes-Maritimes. His career spanned the silent era to the early 1970s, during which he served as director of photography on more than 120 films, working almost exclusively in black and white.
After studying at the University of Nantes, Burel worked as a photoengraver before becoming a camera operator. He collaborated extensively with Abel Gance on films including J'accuse (1919), La Roue (1923) and Napoléon (1927), and with Jacques Feyder in the silent period. From the 1950s he worked regularly with Robert Bresson on Diary of a Country Priest (1951), A Man Escaped (1956), Pickpocket (1959) and The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962). Burel also directed three films between 1922 and 1932. He received the best cinematography award at the Venice Film Festival for Diary of a Country Priest.
