ASC Names Feature-Film Award Nominees

The ASC announced its feature-film nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography — including only one previous nominee among the list of five contenders.

The nominated cinematographers are Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS, for Lion; James Laxton for Moonlight; Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC, for Silence; Linus Sandgren, FSF, for La La Land; and Bradford Young, ASC, for Arrival. Of that group, only Prieto is a repeat nominee, having been cited for Frida in 2003 and Brokeback Mountain in 2006. 

Before this year's one-two punch of Lion and Rogue One, Fraser was best known as the DP behind Zero Dark Thirty and Foxcatcher. He won this year's Camerimage Golden Frog for Lion and previously earned the Australian Cinematographers Society Cinematographer of the Year award for Bright Star. He is also nominated for a BAFTA this year for Lion. (You can hear Fraser discuss his work on Lion and Rogue One at length in our recent podcast interview.) 

Laxton has a lengthy indie-film résumé, including Yoga Hosers, The Myth of the American Sleepover and Moonlight director Richard Jenkins' 2008 feature, Medicine for Melancholy, which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

Sandgren's past projects included David O. Russell's American Hustle and Joy, but La La Land is his first film to enjoy awards attention.

And Bradford Young is well known for his work on recent films including Selma, A Most Violent Year and Ain't Them Bodies Saints. He is a two-time Cinematography Award winner at the Sundance FIlm Festival, for Pariah in 2011 and for Ain't Them Bodies Saints and Mother of George in 2013.

The ASC also announced nominees for its Spotlight Award, which goes to a feature that's screened only at festivals, internationally, or in limited theatrical release. This year's nominees are Lol Crawley, BSC, for Childhood of a Leader; Gorka Gomez Andreu, AEC, for House of Others, Ernesto Pardo for Tempestad, and Juliette van Dormael for Mon Ange.

“Each of the nominated films offers a unique vision on the part of the director of photography,” said ASC President Kees van Oostrum in a prepared statement. These movies also represent a less formulaic or traditional photographic style, and some of their stories highlight socially conscious subject matter that drives a strong surge in photographic realism.”