The American Society of Cinematographers has chosen 13 nominees for its 2017 Student Heritage Awards recognizing graduate, undergraduate and documentary student works. This year’s nominees are students from 10 different U.S. film schools. Winners will be announced on October 14.
The 2017 ASC Student Heritage and Student Documentary Awards are named in honor of members Andrew Lesnie and Haskell Wexler respectively.
Finalists for the student awards this year are:
ASC Andrew Lesnie Student Heritage Award – Graduate Category
Favienne Howsepian from the American Film Institute for Snowplow
Justin Moore from Chapman University for James Joyce’s The Sisters
Marcus Patterson from University of California, Los Angeles for Boy in the Elvis Suit
Michael Phillips from Chapman University for Night Call
ASC Andrew Lesnie Student Heritage Award – Undergraduate Category
Ziryab Ben Brahem from San Diego State University for The Negative
Diego Cordero from the School of Visual Arts - New York for Silver
Bryce Drobny from Columbia College - Chicago for Paranoia
Logan Fulton from Loyola Marymount University for Wido
Megan Hagstrom from University of Nevada - Las Vegas for An Arrangement of Skin
Dillon Leland McEvoy from Chapman University for G.R.E.T.A.
ASC Haskell Wexler Student Documentary Award
Rachel Bardin from University of Texas at Austin for Lavoyger
Connor Ellmann from University of Southern California for Forever Home
Elijah Guess from Chapman University for Parched
Lesnie took home the Best Cinematography Oscar in 2002 for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He earned a 1998 ACS Award of Distinction for Doing Time for Patsy Cline, which also won the Australian Film Institute and The Australian Film Critics’ awards for Best Cinematography. He has twice won the ACS Cinematographer of the Year Award, in 1995 for You Seng and in 1996 for Babe. Lesnie’s feature credits include the Lord of the Rings sequels (The Two Towers and The Return of the King), Babe: Pig in the City, Fair Game, The Delinquents, Two If by Sea, Spider & Rose and The Sugar Factory.
Wexler began his career shooting documentaries and remained a passionate documentarian throughout his career. He earned an Academy Award in 1966 for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and a second Oscar in 1976 for Bound for Glory. He also received nominations for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (shared with Bill Butler, ASC), Matewan and Blaze. In 1969, Wexler wrote, directed and shot Medium Cool, which is studied by film students worldwide for its cinéma vérité style. In 1992, he was honored with the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award.
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