In its continuing effort to shine the spotlight on industry artisans who toil behind the scenes to make movie magic, the American Cinematheque on Thursday revealed the 2023 honorees for its third annual Tribute to the Crafts.
Winning multiple honors are Oppenheimer for Cinematography and Film Editing; Maestro for Hair & Makeup and Sound; and Barbie for Production Design/Set Decoration and Song (for “I’m Just Ken”).
American Fiction, The Color Purple, Poor Things, Killers of te Flower Moon (for the late Robbie Robertson’s final score) John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Creator also are being honored in the feature film categories, while Anselm, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie and American Symphony are being recognized for achievement in documentaries.
Honorees will be tributed at the gala event at American Cinematheque’s newly restored (in conjunction with Netflix) Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on January 19, 2024.
Tribute to the Crafts honors those who are at the heart of filmmaking and have exhibited extraordinary work behind the camera over the past year. The evening will celebrate individuals in 15 categories covering all aspects of filmmaking and will showcase clips from each of their respective films.
Academy Award-winning sound mixer Kevin O’Connell will receive the Career Achievement Award for his extraordinary career spanning 270 film credits over 30 years. This year alone, he worked on projects including Oppenheimer, Barbie, Gran Turismo, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., and Cocaine Bear. After 20 Oscar nominations beginning with 1983’s Terms of Endearment, O’Connell finally won on his 21st nomination for his sound work on 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge.
Honorees were selected by a jury of cinephiles, film historians and journalists from the country’s most respected outlets. (Full disclosure: I was one of the jury members.) The event will be co-hosted by producers and American Cinematheque board members Franklin Leonard (founder and CEO, The Black List) and producer Paula Wagner (Marshall, Mission: Impossible movies, The Last Samurai, Vanilla Sky).
“Celebrating the artisans and craftspeople’s essential contributions to film is one of the cornerstones of our mission at American Cinematheque. This year the jury had over 170 feature films and documentaries to choose from, which speaks to what an incredible year this has been for moviegoing,” said Grant Moninger, American Cinematheque’s artistic director.
The Tribute to the Crafts honorees are:
- Casting: American Fiction (Jennifer Euston) – Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios
- Choreography: The Color Purple (Fatima Robinson) – Warner Bros. Pictures
- Cinematography: Oppenheimer (Hoyte van Hoytema) – Universal Pictures
- Costume Design: Poor Things (Holly Waddington) – Searchlight Pictures
- Editing: Oppenheimer (Jennifer Lame) – Universal Pictures
- Hair & Makeup: Maestro (Kazu Hiro, Siân Grigg, Kay Georgiou & Lori McCoy-Bell) – Netflix
- Production Design/Set Decoration: Barbie (Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer) – Warner Bros. Pictures
- Score: Killers of the Flower Moon (Robbie Robertson) – Apple Original Films
- Song: Barbie – “I’m Just Ken” (Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt) – Warner Bros. Pictures
- Sound: Maestro (Steven Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Dean A. Zupancic, Richard King & Jason Ruder) – Netflix
- Stunts: John Wick: Chapter 4 (Scott Rogers, Stephen Dunlevy & Jeremy Marinas) – Lionsgate
- Visual Effects: The Creator (Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts & Neil Corbould) – 20th Century Studios / New Regency
- Cinematography: Anselm (Franz Lustig) – Sideshow & Janus Films & The Mission (Thorsten Thielow) – National Geographic Documentary Films
- Editing: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Michael Harte, ACE) – Apple Original Films
- Score: American Symphony (Jon Batiste) – Netflix
The event is being produced by Madelyn Hammond & Javier Infante, Madelyn Hammond & Associates.