The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

awarded each year to a

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

for work on one particular

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

History

In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) was not tied to a specific film; all of the work by the nominated cinematographers during the qualifying period was listed after their names. The problem with this system became obvious the first year, since

Karl Struss Karl Struss, A.S.C. (November 30, 1886 – December 15, 1981) was an American photographer and a cinematographer of the 1900s through the 1950s. He was also one of the earliest pioneers of 3-D films. While he mostly worked on films, such as F.W ...

and Charles Rosher were nominated for their work together on '' Sunrise'' but three other films shot individually by either Rosher or Struss were also listed as part of the nomination. In the second year, 1929, there were no nominations at all, although the Academy has a list of unofficial titles that were under consideration by the Board of Judges. In the third year, 1930, films, not cinematographers, were nominated, and the final award did not show the cinematographer's name. Finally, for the 1931 awards, the modern system in which individuals are nominated for a single film each was adopted in all profession-related categories. From 1939 to 1967 with the exception of 1957, there were also separate awards for color and for black-and-white cinematography. After '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1966), the most recent black-and-white films to win since then are ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film f ...

'' (1993), ''

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'' (2018) and ''

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'' (2020). Floyd Crosby won the award for '' Tabu'' in 1931, which was the last silent film to win in this category. Hal Mohr won the only write-in Academy Award ever, in 1935 for ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...

''. Mohr was also the first person to win for both black-and-white and color cinematography. No winners are

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography * Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland *Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

, although some of the earliest nominees (and of the unofficial nominees of 1928–29) are lost, including ''

The Devil Dancer ''The Devil Dancer'' is a 1927 American silent romantic drama film directed by Fred Niblo and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. For his work on this film, ''The Magic Flame'' and '' Sadie Thompson'', cinematographer George Barnes was nominated for t ...

'' (1927), ''

The Magic Flame ''The Magic Flame'' is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Henry King, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and based on the 1900 play ''Konig Harlekin'' by Rudolph Lothar. George Barnes was nominated at the 1st Academy Awards for Best Cin ...

'' (1927), and '' 4 Devils'' (1928). '' The Right to Love'' (1930) is incomplete, and '' Sadie Thompson'' (1927) is incomplete and partially reconstructed with stills.

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...

holds the record for the director with the most films that won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography at the Oscars with five wins out of six nominations for ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

'', ''

The Bridge on the River Kwai ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, th ...

'', ''

Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...

'', ''

Doctor Zhivago ''Doctor Zhivago'' is the title of a novel by Boris Pasternak and its various adaptations. Description The story, in all of its forms, describes the life of the fictional Russian physician and poet Yuri Zhivago and deals with love and loss during ...

'', and '' Ryan's Daughter''. The first nominees shot primarily on

digital video Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data Digital data, in information theory and information systems, is information represented as a string of discrete symbols eac ...

were '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' and '' Slumdog Millionaire'' in 2009, with ''Slumdog Millionaire'' the first winner. The following year, ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appear ...

'' was the first nominee and winner to be shot entirely on digital video. In 2018, Rachel Morrison became the first woman to receive a nomination. Prior to that it had been the last gender-neutral Academy Award category to never nominate a woman. In 2019,

Alfonso Cuarón Alfonso Cuarón Orozco ( , ; born 28 November 1961) is a Mexican filmmaker. He is known for directing films in a variety of genres including the family drama ''A Little Princess'' (1995), the romantic drama ''Great Expectations'' (1998), the c ...

became the first winner of this category to have also served as director on the film, for his film ''

''. This followed a public dispute between Cuarón and the Academy over the Academy's plan to shorten the Oscars broadcast by relegating four awards, including that for cinematography, to the commercial breaks in the show. Cuarón objected by saying, "In the history of cinema, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without cinematography ..."

Superlatives

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first in colored row, followed by the other nominees.

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences official site

The Official Academy Awards Database
listing all past nominees and winners {{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Award for Best Cinematography

Cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

Awards for best cinematography

History

Superlatives

Winners and nominees

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple awards and nominations

See also

Notes

References

External links