Bruno Mondi

Bruno Mondi (30 September 1903, Schwetz, West Prussia – 18 July 1991, Berlin) was a German cameraman and director of photography. Mondi graduated from training in 1918 at the School of Cinema and Technology at the School of Photography in Berlin. Soon after, he worked as an assistant cameraman in numerous silent film productions, including Fritz Lang's Destiny (Der müde Tod, 1921).

From 1925 he worked as co-cinematographer with Heinrich Gärtner, and in the comedy film Die tolle Lola. In 1927, he served as executive director of photography. Mondi initially worked primarily with director Richard Eichberg. In 1935, he joined the permanent staff of Veit Harlan.

On 23 March 1933, Mondi joined the Nazi Party. In addition to numerous comedies and entertainment films, he also shot some propaganda films, including the anti-Semitic production Jud Süß (1940). Despite this, Mondi was hired in 1946 by DEFA, the East German state-owned film studio, as one of its chief cameramen. In this capacity he made in 1950 the first DEFA color film Heart of Stone.

In the fifties he moved to the West German and Austrian film industry. Here he worked especially for several colorful productions by the director Ernst Marischka, especially the popular Sissi trilogy. He also worked for television in the series Förster Horn.

His son Georg Mondi (born 1936) also became a cinematographer.