Cinematographers Ed Lachman, Lol Crawley Receive Kodak Film Awards

Filmmakers celebrated shooting celluloid at the 7th Kodak Film Awards, where respected veteran DP Ed Lachman – who won the American Society of Cinematographers top honor last weekend for “Maria” – was feted with a Career Achievement Award.

“It’s a lifetime of exploring, knowing it’s in the journey and not in the final destination,” the Oscar-nominated DP of films including “Maria,” “Carol,” Far from Heaven” and “El Conde” said of cinematography. “There isn’t only one way to create images to tell our stories. The challenges of cinematography, for me, has always been revealing or trying to evoke the psychological authenticity of the image in the story. Images are about discovering with your camera the emotional immediacy of the moment, which you can translate and share in the documentary and narrative form which we’ve seen in everyone’s work here tonight, and maybe even to express some injustices that there are in the world.” He also reflected on working with and learning from respected cinematographers including Sven Nykvist and Vitorio Storaro.

Also Thursday at L.A.’s Kodak House, “The Brutalist” DP Lol Crawley accepted the Lumiere Award and received applause as he reminded filmmakers that the majority of this season’s cinematography Oscar nominees used film. “To tell the story correctly, it doesn’t always have to be film, but I know in my heart it can’t always be digital,” he said.

Accepting the Vanguard Award, “Sing Sing” director Greg Kwedar talked about his team’s initiative to teach filmmaking skills to inmates at the prison and said they strive to be “community driven” filmmakers. “What I mean by that is we care a lot about the community that we’re telling a story within, that when we come inside this space that is never transactional, but in exchange, that we listen first,” he said.

During the evening, Kodak also honored “The Last Showgirl” director Gia Coppola, who received the Auteur Award; and director Ramez Silyan, whose work with artists such as Post Malone earned him the music film director award.

Vanessa Bendetti, Kodak vice president and head of motion picture, noted that with films such as “Oppenheimer,” the prior season was a good one for celluloid. “But I would argue that 2025 is an even better year, and more important year, for film,” she added, citing a string of Oscar nominated productions that used Kodak film including “The Brutalist,” “Anora,” “I’m Still Here,” “The Last Showgirl,” “Sing Sing,” “A Different Man” and “Maria.” She said, “they are all testimony that shooting on film can work at any budget all around the globe.”