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.
