For more information about the ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards, visit the ASC Web site at www.cinematographer.com.
ASC Tabs Top Five Contenders In Feature Film Competition
Tak Fujimoto, ASC, ""The Sixth Sense,"" Conrad Hall, ASC, ""American Beauty,"" Emanuel Lubezki, ""Sleepy Hollow,"" Robert Richardson, ASC, ""Snow Falling On Cedars,"" and Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC, ""The Insider"" will vie for top honors in the feature film category of the 14th Annual American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Awards competition. The winner will be named at the ASC Awards gala here on February 20th at the Century Plaza Hotel. ""Frankly, I donít know how our member will select one of these films and say it was the most artful work in cinematographer did last year,"" says ASC cinematographers deserved to win. They all made important contributions in telling different type of stories where cinematography played an essential but unobtrusive role."" This is Hallís fourth nomination. He won the ASC Outstanding Achievement Award in this category in 1988 for ""Tequila Sunrise"" and 1993 for ""Searching For Bobby Fischer."" It is the sixth time Richardson has been nominated in 14 years. Spinotti has been nominated three times, and it is the first time Lubezki and Fujimoto have made the list of finalists. Three of the last four ASC Outstanding Acheivement Award winners also won Oscars for cinematography for the same films. The ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards were organized in 1987. The first award dinner was held at the ASC clubhouse in Hollywood with fewer than 100 people present. Jordan Cronenweth, ASC, was the first recipient of the ASC Outstanding Achievement Award for his camerawork on ""Peggy Sue Got Married."" The ASC Outstanding Acheivement Award was organized for the purpose of recognizing and inspiring artistic and innovative achievements in cinematography. Kemper points out that this is one of the few competitions for narrative cinematography where the nominees and winners are selected by their peers. ""We believe that is an important distinction,"" he says. ""All too often, the most artful cinematography goes unappreciated by the critics, and even by our colleagues in other sectors of the industry. They tend to look for spectacular or beautiful images and equate that with artful cinematography. The question we ask is did the cinematographer make an important and artful contribution to telling the story? Cinematography is usually unobtrusive and transparent to the audience. ""Filmmaking is a uniquely collaborative form of art, but each cinematographer makes thousands of decisions on every film that can influence how the audience relates to the characters and whether they are engaging in the story,"" Kemper continues. ""No two cinematographers would do exactly the same things on the same film. Thatís why it is an art."" Kemper believes that it takes cinematographers to recognize and appreciate the subtle ways their peers play roles in telling artful stories. ""There is only going to be one winner and in a way that is unfortunate,"" he says, ""because each of these nominees should savor the experience of knowing that their colleagues believe they set the standard for artistic achievement in cinematography in 1999. That is a notable accomplishment because many terrific films were considered."" ASC was founded in 1919 for the main purpose of advancing the art and craft of cinematography and to provide a forum where cinematographers could share their experiences and ideas. Membership is international and by invitation based on the individualís body of narrative filmwork. There are currently 225 members.