“Oppenheimer” cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema won Feature Film at the 38th ASC Awards, March 3 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The Oscar favorite beat the other four Oscar nominees: “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” Poor Things,” and “El Conde” (represented by cinematographers Rodrigo Prieto, Matthiew Libatique, Robbie Ryan, and Ed Lachman).
This marked van Hoytema’s first ASC win after three nominations (including “Dunkirk” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”) and positions the Dutch-Swedish cinematographer for his first Oscar win. Significantly, “Oppenheimer” represents the culmination of his experimental IMAX collaboration with director Christopher Nolan. The duo achieved a new kind of intimate spectacle with this psychological thriller about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Best Actor nominee Cillian Murphy), the “father of the atomic bomb.” Van Hoytema used the large-format IMAX camera to explore the landscape of faces; namely, Oppenheimer’s in color from his perspective and Salieri-like adversary Admiral Lewis Strauss’ (Best Supporting Actor nominee Robert Downey Jr.) in black-and-white from his.
What a season for Kodak film: four out of the five Oscar nominees were analog (“El Conde” was the lone digital, shot in black-and-white, except for the final sequence), the first time since 2010, and 2023 saw more than 60 movies released on film. Moreover, “Oppenheimer,” “Maestro,” and “Poor Things” dabbled in both color and black-and-white to help drive their narratives with heightened states of mind. Yet even “Killers of the Flower Moon” boasts authentically simulated black-and-white newsreel footage of the Osage Nation (shot with Martin Scorsese’s 1917 Bell & Howell 2709 camera and Kodak black-and-white Eastman Double-X 5222 film stock).
Also, Kodak engineered innovative 65mm monochromatic film for IMAX at the specific request of Nolan and van Hoytema. This helped the cinematographer redefine portraits and close-ups in the same 70mm IMAX presentation.
The Spotlight Award went to “The New Boy.”
On the TV side, the ASC honored “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for one-hour series, “Boston Strangler” for limited series, anthology, or motion picture, and “Barry” for half-hour series.
The ASC also singled out the documentary cinematography of “King Coal.”
ASC honorees included Spike Lee (Board of Governors Award), Don Burgess (Lifetime Achievement Award), Steve Fierberg (Career Achievement in Television Award), and Amy Vincent (Presidents Television Award).
Below is the full list of winners in bold:
Theatrical Feature Film
“El Conde” — Edward Lachman, ASC
“Killers of the Flower Moon” — Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC
“Maestro” — Matthew Libatique, ASC, LPS
“Poor Things” — Robbie Ryan, ISC
“Oppenheimer” — Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC
Spotlight Award
“Citizen Saint” — Krum Rodriguez
“The New Boy” — Warwick Thornton
“Story Ave” — Eric Brano
Episode of a One-Hour Regular Series
“Foundation” Season 2, Episode 1: “In Seldon’s Shadow” — Cathal Watters, ASC, ISC
“Gotham Knights” Season 1, Episode 11: “Daddy Issues” — Rob C. Givens
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Season 5, Episode 9: “Four Minutes” — M. David Mullen, ASC
“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season 2, Episode 10: “Hegemony” — Glen Keenan
“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” Season 2, Episode 3: “The Second Coming” — Ricardo Diaz
Limited or Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
“All the Light We Cannot See”: Episode 2, “Episode 2” — Tobias Schliessler, ASC
“Boston Strangler” — Ben Kutchins, ASC
“George and Tammy”: Episode 2, “Stand by Your Man” — Igor Martinovic
“Great Expectations”: “The Three Keys” — Dan Atherton
“Lessons in Chemistry”: Episode 7, “Book of Calvin” — Jason Oldak
“The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart”: “Part 1: Black Fire Orchid” — Sam Chiplin
Episode of a Half-Hour Series
“Barry” Season 4, Episode 5: “Tricky Legacies” — Carl Herse
“The Bear” Season 2, Episode 10: “The Bear” — Andrew Wehde
“The Diplomat” Season 1, Episode 8: “The James Bond Clause” — Julian Court, BSC
“Minx” Season 2, Episode 2: “I Thought the Bed Was Gonna Fly” — Blake McClure, ASC
“Schmigadoon” Season 2, Episode 4: “Something Real” — Jon Joffin, ASC
Documentary Award
“King Coal” — Curren Sheldon
“Kokomo City” — D. Smith
“Murder in Big Horn” Episode 1, “Episode 1” — Jeff Hutchens
Music Video Award
“At Home” (Performed by Jon Bryant) — Jon Joffin, ASC
“Gorilla” (Performed by Little Simz) — Scott Cunningham, ASC
“Tanto” (Performed by Cassie Marin) — Andrey Nikoleav
