Owen Roizman, ASC, has been named Kodak Cinematographer in Residence at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Theatre, Film, and Television. The residency program, conceived by UCLA production vice chair and professor William McDonald, is sponsored by the Kodak Student Filmmaker Program. Roizman will teach a series of workshops for UCLA students focusing on the aesthetic role the cinematographer plays in visual storytelling.
"We believe it is important for our students to have access to the filmmakers who have played defining roles in shaping the visual grammar of this art form," says McDonald. "Owen Roizman is one of the giants. His influence is pervasive and incomparable. He has created an extraordinary body of work that continues to influence young filmmakers in every part of the world. All of our students, including writers, directors, and cinematographers, will benefit from his insights."
Roizman has earned Oscar nominations for The French Connection, The Exorcist, Network, Tootsie, and Wyatt Earp. His body of work also includes Three Days of the Condor; The Electric Horseman; The Stepford Wives; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; Absence of Malice; and The Addams Family. He received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) in 1997 and the Camerimage International Festival of the Art of Cinematography in 2001. Roizman also served as president of ASC in 1997.
The Kodak Student Filmmaker Program provides a wide range of support for film schools, including scholarships, film grants and discounts, mentoring programs, and educational materials. This is the fourth year that Kodak has sponsored the cinematographer in residence program at UCLA. The others were Allen Daviau, ASC, Dean Cundey, ASC, and Conrad Hall, ASC.
"We are delighted that Owen Roizman has agreed to make time for this worthy endeavor," says John Mason, director of Kodak's Student Filmmaker Program. "He is a brilliant artist who will be a great mentor for these filmmakers who are still at a formative stage of their careers. There is so much false hype today about technology being a replacement for artful filmmaking, which is why it is important for students to have access to people like Owen who will tell them the truth, offer insights, and answer their questions."