The American Society of Cinematographers announced the winners of the 2019 ASC Awards and there was a semi-surprise in the top category, Theatrical Release. Lukasz Zal took the honor for “Cold War” over potential Oscar frontrunner, “Roma’s” Alfonso Cuaron. Zal previously was nominated for the Spotlight Award in 2015 for “Ida” but this was his first Theatrical Release nomination and win. Cuaron is a first-time cinematographer better known for his directorial acumen and that may have caused some friction when the organization submitted their final ballots. The Mexican filmmaker is still seen as the favorite for the Academy Award, but this is a slight boost for Zal’s chances to win the category.
READ MORE: ASC reveals it’s top 10 shot films of all-time list
In other categories, Adriano Goldman took the Non-Commercial Television honor for “The Crown,” Jon Joffin was honored in the Commercial Television category for “Beyond” and “Patrick Melrose’s” James Friend won the award for Motion Picture, Miniseries, or Pilot Made for Television.
All of this year’s winners and nominees are as follows:
Theatrical Release
Alfonso Cuarón for “Roma”
Matthew Libatique, ASC for “A Star is Born”
Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC for “The Favourite”
Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF for “First Man”
Łukasz Żal, PSC for “Cold War” – WINNER
Spotlight Award
Joshua James Richards for “The Rider”
Giorgi Shvelidze for “Namme” – WINNER
Frank van den Eeden, NSC, SBC for “Girl”
Episode of a Series for Non-Commercial Television
Gonzalo Amat for “The Man in the High Castle” – “Jahr Null”
Adriano Goldman, ASC, ABC for “The Crown” – “Beryl” – WINNER
David Klein, ASC for “Homeland” – “Paean to the People”
Colin Watkinson, ASC for “The Handmaid’s Tale” – “The Word”
Cathal Watters, ISC for “Peaky Blinders” – “The Company”
Zoë White, ACS for “The Handmaid’s Tale” – “Holly”
Episode of a Series for Commercial Television
Nathaniel Goodman, ASC for “Timeless” – “The King of the Delta Blues”
Jon Joffin, ASC for “Beyond” – “Two Zero One” – WINNER
Ben Richardson for “Yellowstone” – “Daybreak”
David Stockton, ASC for “Gotham” – “A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight”
Thomas Yatsko, ASC for “Damnation” – “A Different Species”
Motion Picture, Miniseries, or Pilot Made for Television
James Friend, BSC for “Patrick Melrose” – “Bad News” – WINNER
Mathias Herndl, AAC for “Genius: Picasso” – “Chapter 1”
Florian Hoffmeister, BSC for “The Terror” – “Go for “Broke”
M. David Mullen, ASC for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (pilot)
Brendan Steacy, CSC for “Alias Grace” – “Part 1”