Fujimoto and Demme first worked together on the women-in-prison flick "Caged Heat" (1974) and the female killers film "Crazy Mama" (1975). Their association has encompassed everything from the Hitchcockian "Last Embrace" (1979) to the period romance "Swing Shift" (1984), perhaps reaching its zenith with Fujimoto's appropriately claustrophobic photography on "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991). While "Beloved" (1998) may not have set any box-office records, the film featured strong work from the cinematographer who utilized various film stocks to achieve the film's textured look.
In addition to his long-standing partnership with Demme, Fujimoto has lent his considerable talents to numerous other projects. He created the appropriately noirish look for Alan Rudolph's "Remember My Name" (1978) as well as the colorful world of teenagers in both "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Pretty in Pink" (both 1986). His work on 1995's "Devil in a Blue Dress" (1995) ranks as among his best. In Carl Franklin's adaptation of Walter Mosley's detective novel, he avoiding using diffused light in order to create the subtle but rich earth tones found in old photographs. Fujimoto's photography also lent emotional resonance to both "A Thousand Acres" (1997) and M Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" (1999).