Women In Film Tabs Kuras For Top Cinematography Award

Ellen Kuras, ASC will receive top honors for cinematography at the Women in Film (WIF) Crystal Awards luncheon on June 11th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Women In Film present the Kodak Vision Award annually to a cinematographer with notable artistic achievements in feature and/or documentary filmmaking who is a positive role model. ""Ellen Kuras is a great choice for this recognition,"" says WIF President Iris Grossman. ""She is building outstanding bodies of work in both narrative and non-fiction filmmaking. She has filmed some of the best documentaries made during this decade. Audiences at Cannes loved Summer of Sam, and she also did great work earlier this year on The Mod Squad. She is an exceptional role model for young women who are contemplating careers as cinematographers.""Kuras was born and raised in suburban New Jersey. She majored in anthropology at Brown University. After graduation, Kuras took a course in Super 8 filmmaking, and explored the possibilities of combining her interests in anthropology and film. At first, she found unpaid and low paying jobs in documentaries, ranging from production assistant to sound track editor and camera assistant. Kuras decided that the best way to learn about lighting was to work as an electrician. She shot her first documentary in Cambodia in 1987 and her first low-budget narrative film in New York in 1990. Kuras has subsequently compiled an eclectic mix of documentary and narrative credits including Unzipped, Swoon, Geoffrey Beene, 30, 4 Little Girls, Postcards From America, Century of Women, Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, Samsara, Angela, Distant Ground and I Shot Andy Warhol. She won the Best Cinematography award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992 for Swoon and again in 1995 for Angela. Kuras recently completed Summer of Sam, which premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight. ""I feel incredibly lucky to have had opportunities to work with talented directors and other filmmakers who have something important to say about the human condition,"" says Kuras. ""I am also lucky to be working at a time when cinematographers are getting recognition for their artistic achievements and visuals are recognized as an important part of the story-telling process."" Kodak has sponsored the Vision Award for cinematography presented at the Crystal Awards luncheon since 1996. Winners are elected by a blue ribbon panel appointed by WIF. Previous winners include Sandi Sissel, ASC, Nancy Schreiber, ASC and Roxanne diSanto. ""Cinematographers are rarely in the limelight when awards are being handed out,"" says Kodakís Brian Spruill, Regional Business General Manager and Vice President, Professional Motion Imaging division. ""Their contributions to the art of filmmaking deserve this recognition. We applaud Women in Film for recognizing cinematographers for their artistic contributions. I'm proud that we have been able to play a part in making this happen.""For more information, contact WIF at 323 463 6040 or visit the WIF Web site at www.wif.org or the Kodak Web site at www.kodak.com/go/motion.