Incumbent president Steven Poster, ASC was re-elected and the slate of candidates backing the policies of the current administration won a decisive majority on the National Executive Board of the International Cinematographers Guild in the unofficial election results announced yesterday.
Poster, who first won the Guild’s presidency six years ago, ran unopposed, as did three of the six other national officers he supported. In the contested races two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer John Toll, ASC easily won re-election as second vice-president as did incumbent national secretary-treasurer Alan Gitlin. Assistant national secretary-treasurer Bruce MacCallum won the most tightly contested race.
The officers running unopposed were vice-president Lewis Rothenberg, 1st vice-president Paul Varrieur, and sergeant-at-arms Michael St. Hilaire.
Those pledging their support to Poster also won an overwhelming majority among the remaining 67 NEB seats.
“It’s time to put the slates behind us and unite to fight for the interests of all members. The Guild and our parent body, the IATSE, are facing unprecedented attacks on our staffing, wages and working conditions,” Poster said.
“I am looking forward to working with every one of our elected Board members to create a strategy that will train our members for the jobs of the digital future and establish new levels of membership service.”
Poster emphasized that Local 600’s Board will continue to strongly support the extraordinarily innovative and progressive leadership of IATSE International leadership of President Mathew D. Loeb.
National executive director Bruce Doering continues in his role at the ICG.
Directing and Editing “Conclave”; Insights From Edward Berger and Nick Emerson
It’s been a bruising election year but this time we’re referring to a ballot box struggle that’s more adult than the one you’d typically first think of in 2024. Rather, on the industry awards front, the election being cited is that of the Pope which takes front and center stage in director Edward Berger’s Conclave (Focus Features), based on the 2016 novel of the same title by Robert Harris. Adapted by screenwriter Peter Straugham, Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes as the cardinal leading the conclave that has convened to select the next Pope. While part political thriller, full of backstabbing and behind-closed-door machinations, Conclave also registers as a thoughtful adult drama dealing with themes such as a crisis of faith, weighing the greater good, and engaging in a struggle that’s as much about spirituality as the attainment of power.
Conclave is Berger’s first feature after his heralded All Quiet on the Western Front, winner of four Oscars in 2023, including for Best International Feature Film. And while Conclave would on the surface seem to be quite a departure from that World War I drama, there’s a shared bond of humanity which courses through both films.
For Berger, the heightened awareness of humanity hit home for him by virtue of where he was--in Rome, primarily at the famed Cinecittà studio--to shoot Conclave, sans any involvement from the Vatican. He recalled waking up in Rome to “soak up” the city. While having his morning espresso, Berger recollected looking out a window and seeing a priest walking about with a cigarette in his mouth, a nun having a cup of coffee, an archbishop carrying a briefcase. It dawned on Berger that these were just people going to... Read More