The International Cinematographers Guild’s (IATSE Local 600) Eastern Region will present its 2011/2012 Billy Bitzer Awards to retired first assistant cameraman George Berrios (Malcolm X, Diner, Tin Man) and posthumously to cinematographer Andrew Laszlo, ASC (First Blood, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) at New York’s Tribeca Film Center, Nov. 17.
Named for D.W. Griffith’s cinematographer (The Birth of a Nation, 1915, Intolerance, 1916), the Bitzer awards recognize career achievements and union work. In 1926, Bitzer became a founder and the first president of the then Local 644, New York’s original cinematography union. Bitzer worked on more than 1,000 films, but died in comparative obscurity as a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, his film work having been derailed by his union organizing activities.
The awards were established as an annual event in 1975 by Chuck Austin and Sol Negrin, becoming bi-annual in 1988.
