ASC Awards For Most Prestigious Cinematographers

Kovacs Awarded Lifetime Achievement - Deakins, Del Ruth, Lenoir, Fierberg, Brown, Donen, Slocombe Receive AwardsBy Michael Coate

1-Mar-02

Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC, won the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Award in the Feature Film category for his artistic black-and-white work in ìThe Man Who Wasnít There.î (The film was originated on color stock and printed in black-and-white for release in North America.) WSRís Editor-In-Chief Gary Reber, as well as Executive Publisher Marlene Reber, Managing Editor Perry Sun, Staff Writer and Research Editor Michael Coate, and Contributing Editor William Kallay were in attendance for the 16th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards ceremony held on Sunday, February 17, 2002 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Presenters at the gala included Warren Beatty, Geena Davis, Steven Spielberg, and Sylvester Stallone.Deakinsí work on ìThe Man Who Wasnít There,î a character-driven 1940s-era Coen Brothers movie, represented the sixth time the ASC had nominated him in the feature film competition. He previously won for ìThe Shawshank Redemptionî (1994). Deakinsí competition this year included exceptional efforts by Bruno Delbonnel, AFC (ìAmÈlieî), Andrew Lesnie, ACS (ìThe Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ringî), Donald McAlpine, ACS, ASC (ìMoulin Rougeî), and John Schwartzman, ASC (ìPearl Harborî).The ASC Outstanding Achievement in Episodic Television was awarded to Thomas A. Del Ruth, ASC for ìThe West Wingî, an honor given to him two years in a row. Del Ruth also won two ASC awards in 1994 for ìER.îDenis Lenoir, AFC won in the TV Movie (Network) category for ìUprising,î a dramatic miniseries about a band of Jewish freedom fighters battling Nazis in a WWII Warsaw ghetto. The miniseries originally aired on NBC. It followed with a brief, limited market theatrical release and is currently available on DVD.The Outstanding Achievement Award for TV Movie (Cable) was given to Steven Fierberg for ìAttila,î which originally aired on the USA Cable Network and was subsequently released on DVD.The ASC also presented several special awards honoring career achievements.Steven Spielberg presented the ASC International Achievement Award to Douglas Slocombe, BSC, whom he collaborated with on his three ìIndiana Jonesî adventures. Spielberg noted that Slocombe began his career by shooting ìLights Out In Europe,î a documentary that ìtouched the conscience of the world,î and reminisced about his first experience working with him during the India Sequence shoot of ìClose Encounters Of The Third Kindî (1977) where the filmmaker had panicked, and was subsequently amazed, over the cinematographer not using a light meter. Mr. Slocombeís career highlights include ìThe Servantî (1963), ìThe Blue Maxî (1966), ìThe Lion In Winterî (1968), ìThe Great Gatsbyî (1974), ìRollerballî (1975), ìJuliaî (1977), ìRaiders Of The Lost Arkî (1981), ìNever Say Never Againî (1983), ìIndiana Jones And The Temple Of Doomî (1984), and ìIndiana Jones And The Last Crusadeî (1989). During the course of his career, Slocombe has been nominated for three Academy Awards, and has won five British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) Awards and three British Academy Awards.Warren Beatty presented the ASC Board of Governors Award to filmmaker Stanley Donen, whose illustrious career included directing the memorable musicals ìOn The Townî (1949), ìSinginí In The Rainî (1952), ìSeven Brides For Seven Brothersî (1954), ìItís Always Fair Weatherî (1955), ìFunny Faceî (1957), ìThe Pajama Gameî (1957), and ìDamn Yankees!î (1958).Garrett Brown might not be well known outside the filmmaking production community but the images created with the aid of his invention, the Steadicam, have been seen by millions. Sylvester Stallone presented Brown with the ASC Presidents Award for inventing the Steadicam, a devise that allows fluid, hand-held camerawork. Stallone pointed out that one of the very first uses of the Steadicam was on ìRockyî (1976), during many of the boxing and training sequences. Brown had previously won an Academy Award for the invention. Film clips presented at the ceremony included memorable Steadicam sequences from ìReturn Of The Jediî (1983) and the first production to use the devise: ìBound For Gloryî (1976).Richard Crudo, ASC presented the Robert Surtees Heritage Award, given annually to promising film students, to Diego Quemada-Diez, a recent graduate of the American Film Institute (AFI) and Armando Salas, a graduate student at Florida State University.The evening concluded with the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC to his longtime friend Laszlo Kovacs, ASC. The two had been students at the Academy of Theater and Film Art in Budapest, Hungary during the 1950s when the Soviets invaded the country. The pair shot footage of the revolution and fled to America with the smuggled footage with the hopes of working in Hollywood. ìLaszlo and I arrived in this country together as political refugees when it was no longer safe for us to stay in our homeland,î Zsigmond reminded the audience. ìWe were following a dream...sometimes it seemed like an impossible dream, but he never gave up.î Kovacsí body of work includes ìEasy Riderî (1969), ìFive Easy Piecesî (1970), ìKing Of Marvin Gardensî (1972), ìWhatís Up, Doc?î (1972), ìPaper Moonî (1973), ìShampooî (1975), ìNew York, New Yorkî (1977), ìFrancesî (1982), ìGhostbustersî (1984), ìMaskî (1985), and recently, ìMultiplicityî (1996), ìMy Best Friendís Weddingî (1997), and ìMiss Congenialityî (2000). Kovas was the 1998 recipient of the Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award.The ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards were inaugurated in 1986 to recognize and inspire artistic and innovative cinematography in narrative filmmaking. The organization was founded in 1919 to advance the art and provide a forum where cinematographers could share experiences and ideas. Currently, the ASC has over 240 members. For additional information, visit the ASC Web site www.cinematographer.com.Special thanks to the American Society of Cinematographers and Creative Communications Services PR Inc.

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