Oscar®-winning and Emmy®-nominated Production Designer Patrizia von Brandenstein will receive the Art Directors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award at the 20th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards on January 31, 2016 at a black-tie ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The announcement was made today by Marcia Hinds, ADG Council Chair, and James Pearse Connelly, ADG Award's Producer.
“Patrizia von Brandenstein’s work as a Production Designer is vast and extraordinary, and we are proud to rank her among the best in the history of our profession. She has forged the path for many future women, finding success in a predominately male profession. Patrizia is an accomplished, talented and versatile artist and it is our honor to name her as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient” said Hinds.
Von Brandenstein began her film career in 1972 as a Set Decorator on the acclaimed drama The Candidate and subsequently worked as a Costume Designer on both Between the Lines and Saturday Night Fever.
Teaming with husband and fellow Production Designer Stuart Wurtzel on Hester Street, von Brandenstein moved into art direction. She was an Art Director for films as varied as the teen comedy drama Breaking Away and Milos Forman’s lavish period recreation Ragtime, for which she shared an Oscar nomination as Art Director.
By the early 1980s she was a full-fledged Production Designer. Among her notable projects was Heartland and her work with director Mike Nichols on Silkwood, Working Girl and Postcards from the Edge.
In 1985, von Brandenstein won the Academy Award® for her vividly detailed rendering for Amadeus. In 1987, she received her third Oscar nomination for Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables, and further distinguished herself with her work on the teen musical Beat Street, the high-society comedy drama Six Degrees of Separation and a return to the West for The Quick and the Dead.
Her additional production credits include A Chorus Line, Billy Bathgate, Sneakers, Leap of Faith, Just Cause, The People Vs. Larry Flynt and Mercury Rising, as well as A Simple Plan, Man on the Moon, Shaft, The Ice Harvest, All the King’s Men, The Money Pit and Goya’s Ghosts. Von Brandenstein also worked on the historical drama The Last Station, directed by Michael Hoffman, for whom she designed The Emperor’s Club in 2002. Most recently, she designed the acclaimed Irish drama Albert Nobbs starring Glenn Close and Janet McTeer, and Phil Spector, starring Helen Mirren and Al Pacino. This December she will design the sets and costumes for the Broadway production of The Anarchist, written and directed by David Mamet.
Previous recipients of the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award are Jim Bissell, Camille Abbott, Will Ferrell, John P. Bruce, Ken Adam, Robert Boyle, Albert Brenner, Henry Bumstead, Rick Carter, Roy Christopher, Stuart Craig, Bill Creber, John Mansbridge, Terence Marsh, Harold Michelson, Jan Scott, Paul Sylbert, Dean Tavoularis, Tony Walton, and Herman Zimmerman.
Co-Producers of this year's ADG Awards are Judy Cosgrove and Tom Wilkins. Submissions for the 20th Annual ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards began on October 6, 2015, and nominations will be announced on January 5, 2016. Final balloting will begin on January 7, 2016 and end on January 28, 2016. Winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony in 11 competitive categories for theatrical films, television productions, commercials and music videos on January 31, 2016.
As previously announced, the four legendary women to be inducted into the 2016 ADG Hall of Fame are Carmen Dillon, Patricia Norris, Dorothea Holt Redmond and Dianne Wager. A recipient for the Guild’s Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award will be announced in the near future, as well as the additional three Lifetime Achievement Award recipients from the other crafts (Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; Set Designers and Model Makers; and Previs Artists).
ADG Awards are open only to productions, when made within the U.S., by producer’s signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
Media sponsors are The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and SHOOT.
About the Art Directors Guild
The Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) represents 2,300 members who work throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world in film, television and theater as Production Designers, Art Directors, Assistant Art Directors; Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists; Illustrators and Matte Artists; Set Designers and Model Makers; and Previs Artists. Established in 1937, the ADG's ongoing activities include a Film Society, an annual Awards Banquet, a creative/technology community (5D: The Future of Immersive Design), a bimonthly craft magazine (Perspective); and extensive technology-training programs, figure drawing and other creative workshops and year-round Gallery 800 art exhibitions. The Guild's Online Directory/Website Resource is at www.adg.org.
