---
name: "Tom Elling"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/tom-elling"
roles: ["Cinematographer"]
born: "1 September 1946"
died: "28 September 2023"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T14:06:47.376309+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Tom Elling

Cinematographer. Born 1 September 1946 in Kongens Lyngby. Died 28 September 2023.

## Details

- **Work:** Cinematographer
- **Born:** 1 September 1946, Kongens Lyngby
- **Died:** 28 September 2023

## Biography

Tom Elling (1946–2023) was a Danish cinematographer and writer. He trained in Denmark and worked primarily in film and short-form projects from the late 1970s onward.

Elling served as director of photography on Lars von Trier’s debut feature *The Element of Crime* (1984), for which he received the Robert Award for Best Cinematography. He had earlier photographed the short *Nocturne* (1980) and the documentary *Befrielsesbilleder* (1982). As a writer he contributed to *Perfect World* (1990) and several other shorts and documentaries.

He collaborated repeatedly with von Trier and editor Tómas Gislason in the early 1980s. Elling later directed the documentary *Nattegn – En film om Peter Laugesen* (1997).

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, ekkofilm.dk.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Element of Crime* (1984), Fi1m 63, Cinematography — [page](https://film.one/film/the-element-of-crime.md)

## Also known for

- *Nocturne* (1980), Writer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/tom-elling