The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

awarded each year to a

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

for work on one particular

motion picture A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

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 and Charles Rosher were nominated for their work together on ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

.'' Still, 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 was adopted in all profession-related categories. From 1939 to 1966 with the exception of 1957, there were also separate awards for color and black-and-white cinematography. After ''

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'' (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 historical novel '' Schindler's Ark'' (1982) by Thomas Keneally. The film follows ...

'' (1993), '' Roma'' (2018) and ''

Mank ''Mank'' is a 2020 American biographical drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for the 1941 film ''Citizen Kane''. It was directed by David Fincher based on a screenplay written by his lat ...

'' (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 ''

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''. Mohr was also the first person to win for both black-and-white and color cinematography. No winners are lost, although some of the earliest nominees (and of the unofficial nominees of 1928–29) are lost, including '' The Devil Dancer'' (1927), '' The Magic Flame'' (1927), and '' 4 Devils'' (1928). '' The Right to Love'' (1930) is incomplete, and '' Sadie Thompson'' (1927) is incomplete and partially reconstructed with stills.

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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 ''

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'', ''

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 novel ''The Bridge over the River Kwai'', written by Pierre Boulle. Boulle's novel and the film's screenplay are almost entirely fictional but u ...

'', '' Lawrence of Arabia'', '' Doctor Zhivago'', and '' Ryan's Daughter''. The first nominees shot primarily on

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were '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' and ''

Slumdog Millionaire ''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel ...

'' in 2009, with ''Slumdog Millionaire'' being the first winner. The following year, ''

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'' was the first nominee and winner to be shot entirely on digital video. In January 2017, Bradford Young became the first African-American cinematographer to be nominated for an Academy Award, for his work on ''Arrival''. In 2018, Rachel Morrison became the first woman to receive a nomination. Prior to that, it had been the last non-acting Academy Award category to never nominate a woman. In 2019,

Alfonso Cuarón Alfonso Cuarón Orozco ( ; ; born 28 November 1961) is a Mexican filmmaker. List of awards and nominations received by Alfonso Cuarón, His accolades include four Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and seven BAFTA Awards. Cuarón made h ...

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

Shortlisted finalists

Finalists for Best Cinematography were selected by branch members, who voted for ten finalists which were screened to determine the five nominees.

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 () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

Awards for best cinematography