Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (The Man Who Wasn’t There), Bruno Delbonnel (Amélie), Andrew Lesnie, ACS (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), Don McAlpine, ASC, ACS (Moulin Rouge) and John Schwartzman, ASC (Pearl Harbor) have earned coveted feature film nominations in the 2002 American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Awards competition. The winner will be named at the 16th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards dinner here at the Century Plaza Hotel on February 17.
“There is no exact way to judge a subjective and collaborative art form like cinematography,” says ASC President Steven Poster, “The truth is that there were some very difficult decisions because there was so much excellent work. In the end, our members decided that these five amazingly talented colleagues deserve to be recognized for their extraordinary achievements in totally different types of movies.”
The nominations were earned for a diverse range of projects, including period, contemporary, science fiction, fantasy, epic and intimate stories, produced both with major studio support and relatively minimal budgets.
“Movie fans and even critics tend to look for striking images when they judge cinematography,” he says. “We were judging how effectively each cinematographer served the story, the vision of the director, and performances of the actors.”
This is the fifth nomination for Deakins who won in 1994 for “The Shawshank Redemption.” His other nominations were for “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “Fargo” and “Kundun.” It is the first ASC nomination for Lesnie, Delbonnel, McAlpine, and Schwartzman.
The ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards were inaugurated in 1986 with the purpose of providing a forum for recognizing and inspiring artistic achievement in cinematography. Jordan Cronenweth, ASC received the first ASC Outstanding Achievement Award for his work on “Peggy Sue Got Married.”
“This is one of the few cinematography competitions where judging is done solely by peers,” says Poster. “We believe that’s important because artful cinematography rarely draws attention to itself. It generally takes a peer to recognize and judge the effectiveness of painterly nuances in images created by cinematographers.”
The ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards have become a reliable precursor of Oscar nominations and awards in the cinematography category. Almost 90 percent of the finalists in the annual ASC competitions have subsequently claimed Oscar nominations. Four of the last six ASC Outstanding Achievement Award winners also earned Oscars.
For more info, visit the official ASC web site.
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