American Society of Cinematographers and Santa Barbara International Film Festival Join Forces for New Award and Educational Opportunities

Cinematography takes the spotlight with a new award for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) in 2024: The ASC Award for Cinematography. Recognizing a film with exceptional visual composition that advances the art and science of cinematography and promotes the motion picture as an art form, this award is part of a new partnership between SBIFF and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).  

Qualifying films will be chosen from the SBIFF programming slate, and the winning film will be selected by a team of jurors from the American Society of Cinematographers. In addition to the award in Santa Barbara, the winning filmmakers will receive a special invitation as guests of honor at the prestigious 38th Annual ASC Awards. 

Cinematography workshops will also be offered to participants in SBIFF’s 10-10-10 Screenwriting and Filmmaking Mentorship and Competition educational program, and the student winners of the 10-10-10 Filmmaking Competition will receive professional-level rental camera packages, all courtesy of ASC. 

The 10-10-10 program pairs ten student screenwriter-director duos who, with the help of their professional filmmaking mentors, create 10 films over five months that will premiere at the historic Arlington Theatre during SBIFF 2024. 

“The partnership with ASC will serve as an excellent complement to our renowned 10-10-10 program. With their support, we can offer our students even deeper insight into the craft of filmmaking,” said SBIFF Education Manager Claire Waterhouse.

The 39th edition of SBIFF is scheduled for February 7-17, 2024. See sbiff.org.