Contenders for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) 2018 Student Heritage Awards have been unveiled today by the organization. Designed to inspire the next generation, the awards recognize graduate, undergraduate and documentary cinematography students for their exceptional work. The 13 nominees this year hail from 10 universities nationwide, and winners will be announced October 13. The ASC Student Heritage Awards also celebrate the memory of an exceptional cinematographer and are re-named each year in honor of esteemed ASC members. This year’s Undergraduate Award is named in honor of Gerald Hirschfeld, ASC and the Graduate Award honors Sol Negrin, ASC. The Documentary category is dedicated to Haskell Wexler, ASC. Finalists for this year’s student awards are:  ASC Sol Negrin, ASC Student Heritage Award – Graduate Category:
  • Brody Anderson for Drawn Curtains, Chapman University – Dodge College
  • Steven Breckon for A Place to Stay, American Film Institute (AFI)
  • Andres Gallegos for Shoe Shiner, San Francisco State University
  • Yair Halper for Sauna, American Film Institute (AFI)
  • Heyjin Jun for Difficult People, University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic Arts
ASC Gerald Hirschfield, ASC Student Heritage Award – Undergraduate Category:
  • Jack Craymer for Sonora, Chapman University – Dodge College
  • Matthew Hayward for The Latent Image, Columbia College Chicago
  • Grace Marrero for The Girl and the Bird, Florida State University (FSU) College of Motion Picture Arts
  • Simms Wright for Sodium Vapor Nights, University of North Carolina (UNC) School of the Arts
ASC Haskell Wexler Student Documentary Award:
  • Alejandro Cortes Sanchez for Adrift, School of Visual Arts NYC
  • Rachel Lattin for Monumental, Chapman University – Dodge College
  • Minagi Tanaka for She Comes at Night, State University of New York at New Paltz
  • Xinzhong Zhao for Francis Ford Coppola’s Live Cinema, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
Negrin was nominated for five Emmy Awards — three for his work on the detective drama Kojak, one for the telefilm The Last Tenant, and one for an episode of the series Baker’s Dozen. His cinematography in television commercials also earned four Clio Awards. Negrin received the ASC Presidents Award in 2010 in recognition of not only his expertise behind the camera, but for being an ambassador of the art and craft of cinematography. In 2007, Hirschfeld was honored with the ASC Presidents Award. His reputation for being a precise, exacting perfectionist led to his first major feature assignment, shooting the Cold War drama Fail-Safe for director Sidney Lumet. He would go on to shoot some 40 feature films, including The Incident, Goodbye Columbus, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Diary of a Mad Housewife, Young Frankenstein, Two Minute Warning, The World’s Greatest Lover, The Bell Jar, Neighbors, My Favorite Year and To Be or Not to Be. 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. Many ASC Student Heritage Award winners have gone on to have successful careers in filmmaking, and several have been invited to be ASC members themselves. For additional information about the ASC, visit www.theasc.com, and follow them on Instagram (@the_asc), or join American Cinematographer on Facebook, Twitter (@AmericanCine), and Instagram (@american_cineamtographer).