“These 10 aspiring directors of photography truly represent the future talent in our industry,” noted ICG president Steven Poster. “They also demonstrate a mastery of the new technical skills required by our craft,” he added, referring to the ongoing transition to digital cinematography. In remarks, he deliberately referred to “film-making” instead of “movie-making,” giving a shout out to old-school photochemical film technology “where we came from,” and which is now on the wane after ruling the roost for a century.
The 2014 ECA honorees and the films they photographed – selected by a panel of ICG members from around the country from a pool of almost 90 entrants – are: Frank Buono, camera operator (1982); Devin Doyle, 2nd AC (Lancaster Stomp); George Feucht, camera operator (Une Libération); Sidarth Kantamneni, camera operator (Saerto Ena); Kyle Klütz, 1st AC and 2013 ECA honoree (Sequence); David Kruta, digital imaging technician (Wallace); Bartosz Nalazek, preview system (Making a Scene: Forest Whitaker); and Greta Zozula, camera assistant (The Immaculate Reception). The honorable mentions are Chris Heinrich, 1st AC (Sure Thing) and David Jean Schweitzer, camera operator (Good Luck, Mr. Gorski).
“It seems as though we always have more great films than we do winners,” said Jim Matlosz, who has been chairman of the guild’s ECA committee since 2008
Michael Goi, ASC, received the Kodak Cinematography Mentor of the Year award. He conducts seminars at Cal State Northridge, the Maine Photographic Workshop, at his alma mater Columbia College and at the ICG. Goi has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for American Horror Story, Glee and My Name is Earl. He is a past president of the ASC.
The Technicolor Cinematography Journalist of the Year award was unusual in that it went not to a regular writer for a publication but to DP John Bailey, ASC. He is known for his cinematography on such films as Groundhog Day, The Producers and As Good As It Gets. The reason he got the kudo: he also authors a must-read blog on cinematography and cinematographers, “John Bailey’s Bailiwick.” Moreover, Panavision’s AWZ2, an anamorphic wide-angle zoom lens, is nicknamed “the Bailey zoom” because Bailey was among the first cinematographers to ask the company to develop such a lens. He is also vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Professor Judy Irola, ASC, who holds the Conrad Hall Chair of Cinematography at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and is one of only a handful of female ASC members, received the Nat Tiffen Award for Excellence in Cinematography Education. (The award is named after one of three brothers who founded Tiffen Co., specializing in lens filters, who received two technical achievement awards from the Motion Picture Academy for his innovations). Irola’s very first feature as a cinematographer was Northern Lights, winner of the prestigious Camera d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979. She has photographed 17 independent feature films and more than 40 documentaries.
The Canon Award for Excellence in Cinematography Technology went to Codex. The company designs and manufactures high-end digital equipment for motion picture and television production, including the Codex Onboard S and Codex Onboard M recorders which enable the Canon EOS C500 to capture 4K Cinema RAW at up to 120 fps. Marc Dando, president of Codex, accepted the award.
According to Poster, the ICG is the only organization in the entertainment industry that recognizes its up-and-coming members, providing them an opportunity to get a leg up in their careers. The ICG represents more than 7,000 members who work in film, television and commercials as directors of photography, camera operators, visual effects supervisors, still photographers, camera assistants, film loaders, other members of camera crews and entertainment publicists.
