The American Society of Cinematographers nominees announced Wednesday (Jan. 11) include our four leading Oscar contenders for Best Cinematography — frontrunner “La La Land” (Linus Sandgren) as well “Silence” (Rodrigo Prieto), “Moonlight” (James Laxton) and “Arrival” (Bradford Young). The fifth ASC nominee is “Lion” (Greig Fraser), which we have ranked as a longshot at the Oscars, well back of “Jackie.”
Sign up to get Gold Derby’s free newsletter
with experts’ latest predictions and breaking news
While Prieto has contended with the ASC twice before (“Frida,”2002; “Brokeback Mountain” 2005), the other nominees are all first-timers here. Over its 30-year history, the ASC has predicted 118 of the 150 Oscar nominees, including four of last year’s five contenders.
However, the ASC choice for the best in the business has presaged the eventual winner at the Oscars only 13 times in three decades. Besides Emmanuel Lubezki‘s historic three wins a row for “Gravity,” “Birdman” and “The Revenant” beginning in 2013, the other repeat champs were:
Dean Semler, “Dances with Wolves” (1990)
John Toll, “Braveheart” (1995)
John Seale, “The English Patient” (1996)
Russell Carpenter, “Titanic” (1997)
Conrad L. Hall, “American Beauty” (1999)
Conrad L. Hall, “Road to Perdition” (2002)
Dion Beebe, “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2005)
Robert Elswit, “There Will Be Blood” (2007)
Anthony Dod Mantle, “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008)
Wally Pfister, “Inception” (2010)
Join in the fierce debate about the Oscar contenders
going on right now in our red-hot forums
The ASC also announced the nominees for the Spotlight Award, which honors films that screen at festivals, internationally, or in limited release. They are:
Lol Crawley, “Childhood of a Leader”
Gorka Gomez Andreu, “House of Others”
Ernesto Pardo, “Tempestad”
Juliette van Dormael. “Mon Ange (My Angel)”
The 31st annual ASC Awards take place on Feb. 4 at the Beverly Hilton.
Predict the Oscar nominations now; change them till January 24
Be sure to make your Oscar predictions. Weigh in now with your picks so that Hollywood insiders can see how their films are faring in our Oscar odds. You can keep changing your predictions right up until just before nominations are announced on January 24 at 5:00 am PT/8:00 am ET. Be sure to read our contest rules. And join in the fierce debate over the Oscars taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our forums.
