The American Society of Cinematographers held its 34th Awards Saturday night, January 25, in the Ray Dolby Ballroom in the Hollywood & Highland complex. Winners included 1917, The Lighthouse, and Honeyland.
Some 1600 guests attended a cocktail reception and dinner before the awards ceremonies, hosted for the third straight year by Turner Classic Movies’ Ben Mankiewicz.
Citing his own start in documentaries, director Todd Phillips (Joker) presented the award for Documentary, a new category for the ASC Awards. “People were just beginning to understand the power of the camera, and how it could change your life for good and bad,” Phillips said about his early work, adding that “we are in the golden age of documentaries.”
Fejmi Daut and Sami Ljuma won for Honeyland from North Macedonia. Since winning three major awards at the 2019 Sundance festival, including Cinematography, Honeyland has gained fans in festivals across the world. It recently won Oscar nominations for Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature (formerly Best Foreign Film). It is the first time a documentary was nominated for International Feature.
“This is something special, to be here with the best of the best,” Ljuma said. “Documentaries are more important to our world today than ever before.”
Jane Lynch presented the award for Best Episode in a Commercial Television Series to C. Kim Miles, cinematographer of “The Flatwoods Monster” from the History series Project Blue Book. He thanked the ASC for preserving the heritage of the craft of cinematography, and reached out to the younger guests: “One day you will be up here onstage and inspiring the people sitting where you are tonight.”
The Career Achievement in Television Award went to Don Morgan, who worked on landmark series like Home Improvement and Last Man Standing. Tim Allen reminisced about working with Morgan, noting his “professionalism and immense talent,” before handing over the award. Morgan quipped, “You probably didn’t recognize Tim because he looks a whole lot prettier when I light him.”
The award for motion picture, mini-series, or pilot made for television was given by Michael McKean to John Conroy, cinematographer on “A Sparrow in a Swallow’s Nest” episode from The Terror: Infamy, the AMC series. for The Terror. Fighting tears, Conroy cited his father Jack, who passed in November, 2019.
Mickey Gilbert, a stunt double for Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid before becoming a second-unit director and stunt coordinator, introduced the President’s Award, given this year to Don McCuaig. A thrilling montage of some of McCuaig’s stunt and pyrotechnic shots delighted viewers. (McCuaig also produced several of the night’s montages, including a tribute to the American Cinematographer magazine centennial.)
Three features were nominated for the Spotlight award, an effort by the ASC to target independent or smaller budget productions that might otherwise be overlooked. Bartosz Bielenia, star of the Polish Best International Feature nominee Corpus Christi, gave the award to Jarin Blaschke for his work on The Lighthouse. “This is terrifying,” Blaschke said after accepting the award. “As the only person here without extra letters after my name I am flabbergasted.”
Joel Coen presented the ASC International Award to his longtime collaborator and “International Man of Mystery” Bruno Debonnel (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs).
ASC President Kees van Oostrum, whose term ends this year, gave the Bud Stone Award of Distinction to Kimberly Snyder, CEO of Panavision.
Paul Holdengräber introduced his friend, director Werner Herzog, winner of this year’s ASC Board of Governor’s Award. Holdengräber described Herzog’s rogue film school, where he teaches students “how to pick locks, because filmmaking is all about trespassing.”
Herzog drew laughs from guests by citing the fights, accidents, and diseases that afflicted his productions. Pointing to his award, he said, “I wish I had a whole bucketful of these because they belong to those who are my eyes, my cinematographers. I love to work with those who understand the hypnotic quality of certain moments that nobody else would see right away.”
The director singled out Thomas Mauch (Aguirre, the Wrath of God), Peter Zeitlinger (Grizzly Man), and Ed Lachman (La Soufrière), relating an anecdote about the latter that ended with, “Edward, we shall be airborne.” A montage of moments from his films included clips of his acting work on The Mandalorian and Jack Reacher. (Watch Herzog’s entire speech here.)
Three student cinematographers were honored at the dinner for awards that were announced in October, 2019. Lucas Dziedzic in the Graduate Category for Animals, and Oscar Ignacio Jimenez in the Undergraduate Category for Gather, were given Richard H. Kline awards. And Jazleana Jones won the Haskell Wexler award for the documentary King, Charles.
Guests gave ASC staff member Patty Armacost a standing ovation after she received an honorary ASC membership.
Emily Deschanel presented the Non-Commercial Television Series award to Colin Watkinson for “Night,” an episode from The Handmaid’s Tale. And director Lisa Cholodenko introduced Frederick Elwes, winner of this year’s ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. Elwes had worked on her HBO adaptation of Olive Kitteridge. A montage of clips from films like Blue Velvet and a video appreciation from director Jim Jarmusch followed.
For the last award of the program, Diane Lane announced the winner, Roger Deakins, for 1917. It is the fifth time Deakins has won the award, most recently for Blade Runner 2049. He received a prolonged standing ovation from the guests.
A complete list of nominees and winners is available here.
