The International Cinematographers Guild (ICG, IATSE Local 600) will honor cinematographer John Simmons, ASC, with the ASC Cinematography Mentor Award and journalist Debra Kaufman with the Technicolor William A. Fraker Award at the 2019 Emerging Cinematographer Awards (ECA) Luncheon in the ASC Clubhouse on Friday, October 4, 2019. The ECA premier event will be held on Sunday, October 6, at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre in the Saban Media Center.
John Simmons, ASC, will be honored with the ASC Cinematography Mentor Award for his commitment to advising many young talented cinematographers. Simmons won the Best Cinematography Emmy® for the Nickelodeon multi-camera series Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn and has three additional Emmy nominations. He has worked behind the camera since the early 1970’s shooting documentaries, music videos, commercials and features. Simmons’s introduction to television began with movies made for TV including The Killing Yard, The Ruby Bridges Story, Selma Lord Selma and numerous independent and network documentaries on PBS, Showtime and HBO. His first multi-camera primetime show was The Hughleys, which began an illustrious career in multi-camera sitcoms. He was an adjunct professor in the Television/Film and Theater Department at UCLA for twenty-five years and continues to mentor many up-and-coming cinematographers. He is presently filming shows for Netflix.
John studied art at Fisk University and cinematography at the University of Southern California. He served as vice president of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) in 2017 and 2018. His photographs are in the permanent collections at the Harvard Art Museum, High Museum of Fine Art, Houston Museum of Fine Art, David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, and the Wesley and Missy Cochran Foundation.
Debra Kaufman, a freelance writer in the media and entertainment technology field, will be presented with the Technicolor William A. Fraker Award for her journalistic contributions in covering the film and television industry from the perspective of cinematography. She currently writes for USC’s Entertainment Technology Center newsletter, ETCentric, and contributes to American Cinematographer, ICG Magazine, and the Editors Guild’s CineMontage. Her work has appeared in Wired, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, SHOOT and numerous trade publications. Kaufman has moderated and participated in panels at NAB, CES, HPA Tech Retreat, NATPE, Produced By and many other trade shows. She consults on postproduction, mobile entertainment and other industry issues. She holds a master’s degree from UCLA and a bachelor’s from UC Berkeley. Her other work experience includes UNESCO in Paris and the United Nations in New York.
As previously announced, award-winning
The 2019 ECA honorees will be spotlighted at the Los Angeles ECA premier event on October 6, and their short films will be screened. The 10 honorees, who were selected from 108 applicants, are Daniel Bombell (Present Day, Athens), Tinx Chan (Empty Skies), Marcos Durian (Fish Head), Chad Erickson (Eddy), Geoff George (My Blood), Shannon Madden (Scratch), Bongani Mlambo (The Coin), Jared Moossy (A Lucky Man), Claudio Rietti (Kid Boxer) and Alejandro Wilkins (El Gallo).
Additional ECA screenings will follow in New York City at the SVA Theatre on October 27, 2019, Atlanta at SCAD show on November 3, 2019 and Chicago at The Logan Theatre on November 3, 2019. Now in its 23rd year, the Emerging Cinematographers Awards is the only award show in the industry that specifically celebrates the work of up-and-coming cinematographers, helping to nurture their talent and showcase their work. This non-profit event directly benefits the International Cinematographers Guild Scholarship & Preservation Fund and is a critical part of the Guild’s mission in developing the next generation of cinematographers.
The chairs of the Guild’s ECA committee are cinematographer Jimmy Matlosz and Steven Poster, ASC, past ICG National President. ICG's ECAs give Local 600 members an opportunity to present themselves as directors of photography by submitting a short film with a running time of 30 minutes or less for consideration. The awards are open to any member of the Guild who is not already classified as a director of photography. The films are selected by a panel of ICG members from across the country and can also be seen by a wider audience at selected film festivals throughout the year, including EnergaCamerimage.
The ICG Emerging Cinematographers Awards are proud to be sponsored by Premier: Panavision Family of Companies; Platinum: Canon USA Inc., Technicolor; Gold: BLT Studios Hollywood, Sony Electronics, Studio B&H, Zeiss Cine Lenses; Silver: Adorama Rental Company, Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment Inc., ARRI, Rotolight, SIGMA, SIM International; Bronze: AbelCin
Tickets are available for the ECA Screening at: ecawards-los-angeles
For more ECA information, go to www.ecawards.net or contact MaryAnne MacDougall at ICG (info below).
About THE INTERNATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHERS GUILD (ICG):
The International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600) represents approximately 9,000 members who work in film, television and commercials as directors of photography, camera operators, visual effects supervisors, still photographers, camera assistants, film loaders, all members of camera crews and publicists. The first cinematographers union was established in New York in 1926, followed by unions in Los Angeles and Chicago, but it wasn’t until 1996 that Local 600 was born as a national guild. ICG’s ongoing activities include the Emerging Cinematographer Awards and the ICG Publicists Awards Luncheon. The Guild also publishes the award-winning ICG Magazine www.icgmagazine.com.
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