Lensers take turns in nod limelight

By ANDY MARX

The escalating awards duel between "Schindler's List" and "The Piano" went up another notch as the films' cinematographers were among five nominees chosen by the American Society of Cinematographers for the organization's eighth annual Outstanding Achievement Awards.

Janusz Kaminsky, who lensed "Schindler's List," and Stuart Dryburgh, the man behind the camera on "The Piano," were joined by Michael Chapman for "The Fugitive," Conrad Hall for "Searching for Bobby Fischer" and Robert Richardson for "Heaven and Earth."

In addition to this year's nomination, Hall, who won the award for "Tequila Sunrise" in 1988, is also set to receive the ASC's Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization's awards dinner Feb. 27 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

This year's nomination is the fifth for Richardson, who was nominated for "Platoon,""Born on the Fourth of July,""JFK" and "A Few Good Men," and the first for Chapman,5Dryburgh and Kaminsky.

"Schindler's List,""The Piano" and "The Fugitive" turned up earlier last week on another list of nominees as the DGA nominated the helmers of those films -- Steven Spielberg, Jane Campion and Andrew Davis.

The ASC also announced the nominees in three categories of television, noting that there were a record number of entries -- about 150 -- in the television film competition.

In the episodic TV category, the nominees are Lowell Peterson for "Second Chances" ("I Can't Get No Satisfaction"), Brian J. Reynolds for "NYPD Blue" ("Oscar Meyer Weiner"), Roland (Ozzie) Smith for "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" ("Where the Heart Is"), Bing Sokolsky for "NYPD Blue" ("True Confessions") and David Tattersall for "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" ("Istanbul").

The nominees in for TV movie-of-the-week or pilot are Thomas Del Ruth for "X-Files" (pilot), Donald M. Morgan for "Geronimo," Neil Roach for "To Dance With the White Dog" (pilot), Bing Sokolsky for "NYPD Blue" (pilot) and Kenneth Zunder for "seaQuest DSV" (pilot).

In the miniseries category, the nominees are Robert Draper for "A Matter of Justice, Part I," Ron Garcia for "Murder in the Heartland, Part 1," Isidore Mankofsky for "Trade Winds, Part 3," Kees Van Oostrum for "Return to Lonesome Dove, Part 2" and Phedon Papamichael for "Wild Palms, the Floating World, Part 2 ."

The ASC will also pay tribute to 1994 Achievement winner Jack Cardiff and Board of Governors Award recipient Spielberg.