The ICG Honors Emerging Cinematographers at its Annual Awards Event

The International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600) celebrated its 19^th annual Emerging Cinematographers Awards at the Directors Guild of America Theater on Sunday night. The event honored eight up-and-coming members of the ICG for their camerawork on shorts that were screened during the evening.

The awards initially “started as a family affair, a showcase within the guild of promising young cinematographers,” said ICG president Steven Poster in opening remarks, but have since evolved into “the industry’s only discovery event for some of the most exciting new talent in film and television production.”

The honorees and the shorts they worked on were: Tobin Oldach, for Thirst; Jason Hafer, for Incident on Highway 73; David Kruta, for Lullaby; Daniel Cotroneo, for The Other Side; Devin Doyle, for Fish Friend; John Garrett, for Delia; T. J. Williams Jr., for Color TV, No Vacancy, and Michael Nie, for Dust.

Poster also announced the creation of the Bruce C. Doering Distinguished Service Award, named after the ICG’s national director who recently celebrated his 30^th anniversary with Local 600. Doering, who will be retiring at the end of the year, was appropriately the award’s first recipient. He noted that the union had only 1,800 members when he joined but has since grown to some 7,500 members, both here and abroad. He was cited for his “outstanding contribution advocating policies and legislation favorable to labor workers.”

Actress Lindsay Wagner, known for her work on The Bionic Woman television series, spoke to the audience and extolled the work of cinematographers for their close and essential collaboration with actors. Cinematographers provide actors with a “feeling of safety” and their relationship is “much bigger than most people give credit for,” she noted.

At a luncheon for the ECA winners held last Thursday at the American Society of Cinematographers’ iconic clubhouse headquarters in Hollywood, four special awards were also handed out. Australian director of photography Mandy Walker received the Kodak Cinematography Mentor of the Year Award; Steven Tiffen, president and CEO of the Tiffen Company, got the Canon Award for Advancement in Digital Technology; David Heuring, was honored as the Technicolor William A. Fraker Cinematography Journalist of the Year, and professor Bruce Sheridan, chair of Cinema Art + Science at Columbia College Chicago, received the Nat Tiffen Award for Excellence in Cinematography Education.