Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS took home the top honor at the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) awards ceremony on Sunday night (3/20) for his filming of dune. It was the second career ASC win for Fraser, who won the coveted feature film award in 2017 for Lion. Between Lion and duneFraser was nominated for television in 2021 for his work on The Mandalorian.
Fraser’s work on dune leading a group of nominees for the ASC Feature Film Awards, also made up of Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC for Macbeth’s TragedyDan Laustsen, ASC, DFF for alley of nightmaresAri Wegner, ACS for The power of the dogand Haris Zambarloukos, BSC, GSC for Belfast. Wegner made history as the second woman to be nominated in the ASC Award high profile feature film category (the first being Rachel Morrison, ASC in 2018 for muddy).
Meanwhile, topping the Spotlight category of the ASC Awards – which recognizes outstanding cinematography in independent, foreign or arthouse-type films – was cinematographer Pat Scola for Pork.
Rounding out the feature film winners – this one for documentary filmmaking – was Jessica Beshir for her filming of Faya Dayiwhich she also did.
Beshir and Scola are both first-time ASC award winners.
Television
Winners in the TV categories included James Laxton, ASC for The Underground Railroad; Jon Joffin, CSA for Titan; Tommy Maddox-Upshaw, CSA for Snowfall; and Michael Berlucchi and Marc Carter for mythical quest.
This marked Laxton’s first career victory in ASC. It was nominated in 2017 for feature film Moonlight. Both Moonlight and The Underground Railroad were directed by Barry Jenkins.
Maddox-Upshaw is also a first CSA winner (with Snowfall also representing his first appointment to the Company).
Likewise, Berlucchi and Carter teamed up on what was the first CSA nomination and win for each.
Joffin, however, is now a three-time winner of the ASC award. He first scored an ASC Award in 2019 for an episode of Beyond. Two years later, he won again for an episode of Homeland: Fort Salem. Overall, Joffin is a five-time ASC Award nominee.
Debbie Allen hosted the ASC Awards Ceremony, which took place at the historic ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood.
Here is a complete overview of the winners of the evening
Feature film (presented by Erik Messerschmidt, ASC)
Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for DUNE
Spotlight (presented by Sosie Bacon)
Pat Scola for PIG
Documentary (presented by Denis Villeneuve)
Jessica Beshir for FAYA DAYI
Made-for-TV movie, limited series, or pilot (presented by Katherine McNamara)
James Laxton, ASC for THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD – Chapter 9: Indiana Winter
One-Hour TV Series Episode: Non-Commercial (Presented by Morgan Cooper)
Jon Joffin, ASC for TITANS – Souls
One Hour TV Series Episode: Commercial (hosted by LaMonica Garrett)
Tommy Maddox-Upshaw, ASC for SNOWFALL – Weight
Half-hour TV series episode (hosted by Tamlyn Tomita)
Michael Berlucchi and Marc Carter for MYTHIC QUEST – Backstory!
Honorary congratulations
Honorary awards were also presented at the ceremony with Ellen Kuras, ASC becoming the first woman to receive the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was presented to Kuras by the aforementioned revolutionary DP Morrison.
Peter Levy, ASC, ACS (Predator 2, Californication) received the Career Achievement in Television Award from longtime collaborator Stephen Hopkins.
Rebecca Rhine and Amy Vincent, ASC introduced John Lindley, ASC (Field of Dreams, Saint-Vincent) with the CSA Presidents Award.
The first Curtis Clark Technical Achievement Award was presented to Panavision’s Vice President of Optical Engineering and Lens Strategy, Dan Sasaki.
