‘Elvis’ Cinematographer Mandy Walker Becomes First Woman to Win Top Film Award From American Society of Cinematographers

Television awards go to “The Old Man,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Barry”

Austin Butler in "Elvis"
Austin Butler in "Elvis" (Warner Bros.)

Mandy Walker has won the American Society of Cinematographers feature-film award for “Elvis,” making her the first woman ever to win that award. She is only the third female nominee in the category, after Rachel Morrison for “Mudbound” in 2018 and Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog” last year.

Walker now has the chance to become the first woman to win the Oscar for cinematography, where she is also the third female nominee in the gender-neutral Oscars category that took the longest to nominate a woman. (Morrison was the first there, too.) Her competitors at the Oscars include two who were also nominated by the ASC, Roger Deakins for “Empire of Light” and Darius Khondji for “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truth,” along with James Friend for “All Quiet on the Western Front” and Florian Hoffmeister for “Tar.”

“This is for all the women who will win the award after me, and for all the cinematographers who will break the other glass ceilings,” Walker said in her acceptance speech.

The award for documentary feature went to Ben Bernhard and Riju Das for “All That Breathes,” a lyrical doc about two brothers who rescue birds that fall from the polluted skies of New Delhi. The Spotlight Award, which is designed to highlight cinematography on films that didn’t get wide release, went to Sturla Brandth Grøvlen for “War Sailor,” which was Denmark’s entry in this year’s Oscar race for Best International Feature Film.

Television awards went to M. David Mullen for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Carl Herse for “Barry” and Sean Porter and Jules O’Loughlin, who won in different categories for two episodes of “The Old Man.”

In the first 36 years of the ASC Awards, the winner has gone on to receive the Oscar for Best Cinematography less than half the time. But the record has been better recently, with the two groups agreeing four times in the last five years and seven times in the last 10.  

Also at the ceremony, five ASC members received honorary awards. Stephen Goldblatt received the Lifetime Achievement Award, Darius Khondji the International Award, Fred Murphy the ASC Career Achievement in Television Award, Charlie Lieberman the Presidents Award and Sam Nicholson the Curtis Clark ASC Technical Achievement Award.  

Viola Davis received the 2023 ASC Board of Governors Award.  

The show took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM NOMINEES
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC for “Empire of Light”
Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS for “The Batman”
Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC for “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”
Claudio Miranda, ASC for “Top Gun: Maverick”
Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS for “Elvis” *WINNER

SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, DFF for “War Sailor” *WINNER
Kate McCullough, ISC for “The Quiet Girl”
Andrew Wheeler for “God’s Country”

EPISODE OF A ONE-HOUR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION SERIES
John Conroy, ASC, ISC for “Westworld” – “Années Folles”
Catherine Goldschmidt for “House of the Dragon” – “The Lord of the Tides”
Alejandro Martinez for “House of the Dragon” – “The Green Council”
M. David Mullen, ASC for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” – “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?” *WINNER
Alex Nepomniaschy, ASC for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” – “Everything is Bellmore”
Nikolaus Summerer for “1899” – “The Calling”

PILOT, LIMITED SERIES, OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Todd Banhazl, ASC for “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” – “The Swan”
Jeremy Benning, CSC for “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” – “The Outside”
Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC for “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” – “The Autopsy”
C. Kim Miles, ASC, CSC, MySC for “Lost Ollie” – “Bali Hai”
Sean Porter for “The Old Man” – “I” *WINNER

EPISODE OF A HALF-HOUR SERIES
Adam Bricker for “Hacks” – “The Click”
Carl Herse for “Barry” – “Starting Now” *WINNER
Stephen Murphy BSC, ISC for “Atlanta”“New Jazz”
Ula Pontikos, BSC for “Russian Doll” – “Matryoshka”
Christian Sprenger, ASC for “Atlanta” – “Andrew Wyeth. Alfred’s World.”  

EPISODE OF A ONE-HOUR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION SERIES
Marshall Adams, ASC for “Better Call Saul” – “Saul Gone”
Jesse M. Feldman for “Interview With the Vampire” ­– “Is My Very Nature That of the Devil”
Christian “Tico” Herrera, CCR for “Snowfall” – “Departures”
Jules O’Loughlin, ASC, ACS for “The Old Man” – “IV” *WINNER
Jaime Reynoso, AMC for “Snowpiercer” – “Bound by One Track”

DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Ben Bernhard and Riju Das for “All That Breathes” *WINNER
Adam Bricker for “Chef’s Table: Pizza” ­– “Franco Pepe”
Wolfgang Held, ASC for “This Stolen Country of Mine”

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