The International Cinematographers Guild (ICG, IATSE Local 600) has named eight honorees and two honorable mentions for its 18th annual Emerging Cinematographer Awards (ECA). The 10 short films will be premiered at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles on September 28. A New York premiere will follow on October 26 at the School of Visual Arts.
The honorees, selected from almost 90 submissions, are Frank Buono, camera operator (1982); Devin Doyle, 2nd AC (Lancaster Stomp); George Feucht, camera operator (Une Libération); Sidarth Kantamneni, camera operator (Saerto Ena); Kyle Klütz, 1st AC and 2013 ECA honoree (Sequence); David Kruta, digital imaging technician (Wallace); Bartosz Nalazek, preview system (Making a Scene: Forest Whitaker); and Greta Zozula, camera assistant (The Immaculate Reception).
The honorable mentions are Chris Heinrich, 1st AC (Sure Thing) and David Jean Schweitzer, camera operator (Good Luck, Mr. Gorski).
The purpose of the ECA is to nurture talent within the Guild and to give promising cinematographers the crucial exposure they need to succeed in the motion picture industry.
The ECA is open to any member of the Guild who is not already classified as a DP. Members are asked to submit films they have photographed with a running time of 30 minutes or less. The ICG is the only organization in the entertainment industry that offers its up-and-coming members the opportunity to be recognized and the chance to further their careers.
The films are selected by a panel of ICG members from across the country.
Steven Poster, ASC, president of the ICG, said, “These 10 aspiring directors of photography truly represent the future talent in our industry. Each of the films that they helped to create is an example of inspiring and creative cinematography. They also demonstrate a mastery of the new technical skills required by our craft. Our judges had a difficult time choosing the winners from the high number of entries this year. These films without a doubt are extraordinary achievements and deserve the recognition they will receive at this year’s Emerging Cinematographer Awards.”
Jim Matlosz, who has been chairman of the Guild’s ECA committee since 2008, added, “Once again we had a great turn-out for submissions to the ECA. And again our members have proven their talent. It seems as though we always have more great films than we do winners. This means we usually have about 20 top films that all come very close in numbers and votes, culminating with the 10 we choose based solely on judges’ votes.”
Sponsors of this year’s event include Canon USA Inc., Tiffen, Technicolor, Sony Electronics, ARRI, Zeiss, K5600, Kodak, Lite Panels, Panavision, Aadyn Technology, Blackmagicdesign, AbleCine, Assimilate, Band Pro, LumaForge, Birns & Sawyer, Chimera Lighting, The Rag Place, Cinelease, Clairmont Camera, Illumination Dynamics, JL Fisher, KinoFlo, Light Iron, Mole-Richardson, Rosco, Sekonic, Sim Digital, and Matthews Studio Equipment.
The ICG represents more than 7,000 members who work in film, television and commercials as DPs, camera operators, visual effects supervisors, still photographers, camera assistants, film loaders, all members of camera crews and publicists.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More