Emerging Cinematographers honored

Work of emerging DPs celebrated

By JENNIFER KONERMAN

With the eight winners of the 13th annual Emerging Cinematographer Awards -- held Sunday at the Directors Guild Theater in Los Angeles -- already determined, the question wasn't so much who was being honored as what had they created.

The most buzzed-about work at the ceremony, designed to recognize artistic innovation in cinematography in short films, was Patrick Meade Jones' "Idiot Box," a satire about America's image onscreen featuring characters with TVs for heads experiencing the pitfalls of suburban life.

The eight honorees, whose films were shown during the course of the event, were chosen from more than 60 submissions from guild members. Along with Jones, honorees included Jason Ellson, Paolo Cascio, Russell Griffith, Julie Kirkwood, Robert Kositchek, Eduardo Mayen and David Speck. Damian Acevedo and Timm Roarke received honorable mentions.

Host Steven Poster, national president of the Intl. Cinematographers Guild, called the honorees "some of the most talented, new and upcoming cinematographers from amongst the ranks of the guild's members."

"Everything was amazing, beautiful -- very clever, well thought out," said Mayen, whose "Oh Baby I Love You" earned him a second Emerging Cinematographer nod. "I was really humbled to be in that group."

Past recipients of this award have gone on to work on shows including "CSI: Miami" and "The X-Files" and movies such as "Hustle and Flow," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and "Van Helsing."