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Nurturing talent and giving promising cinematographers the crucial exposure they need to succeed in the Motion Picture Industry lies at the heart of the International Cinematographers Guild’s annual Emerging Cinematographer Awards. The annual competition was first launched in 1996, through an idea proposed by Rob Kositchek, who was an assistant cameraman at the time.
 AFTERMATH
original title: Aftermath
director: Richard Robbins
cinematographer: Jason Ellson
country: USA
year: 2007
Aftermath is a vignette from the 2008 Oscar nominated feature documentary titled Operation Homecoming. It explores the firsthand account of an American serviceman through his own words. The film was built upon a project created by the National Endowment for the Arts to gather the writing of servicemen and women and their families who have participated in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Aftermath is a deep examination of the experiences of the men and women who are serving in America’s armed forces. At the same time it provides depth and context to these experiences through a broader look at the universal theme of war literature. At the core of the writing is a deep desire by all those who have served in war to come to terms with their experiences and to express a profound hope that people will listen to their stories and try to understand what they have seen.
 ALMOST PERFECT
original title: Almost Perfect
director: Dean Goodhill, Woody Whichard
cinematographer: Paolo Cascio
country: USA
year: 2008
Almost Perfect is about Jesse Staton, an African-American student at J. P. Mullholland High School. Jesse scores unusually high on the SAT, but the school’s Caucasian principal, Mr. Edmondson, is suspicious, referring to Jesse’s high test score as “an anomaly”. He convinces Jesse’s mother to have him retake the test, causing quite a stir with Jesse’s teacher, who suspects Mr. Edmonson of prejudice. Fate quickly shifts the focus from test results to tragedy. Almost Perfect is about how the human spirit can triumph over the social stereotypes that society can often put on people. It’s about race. It’s about struggle. But most of all, it’s about hope.
 CRUST
original title: Crust
director: Russell Griffith
cinematographer: Russell Griffith
country: USA
year: 2008
A young Bosnian and her disabled father struggle to survive the atrocities and hunger of the Bosnia-Herzegovina war–which encompassed the largest occurrence of genocide since WW II. They fight over a crust of bread so that the other might eat it and live. It is a story of love
and sacrifice in the worst of times.
 IDIOT BOX
original title: Idiot Box
director: Lee Citron
cinematographer: Patrick Meade Jones
country: USA
year: 2008
We are all on Television. Idiot Box delivers a slice of raw American perverted by the influence of television. In an apple pie town of green grass and white picket fences, a failing marriage destroys one family’s chance for that promised American dream.
 OH BABY I LOVE YOU
original title: Oh Baby I Love You
director: Mary Angelica Molina
cinematographer: Eduardo Enrique Mayén
country: USA
year: 2008
When Valerie Cohen finally meets a guy who isn’t “a total douche,” her friends try to help her overcome a sexual tick that’s been plaguing her recent romantic endeavors: every time she has an orgasm, she says “I love you.” Val soon learns that her sexual tick is the least of her intimacy issues…
 RAIN RAIN
original title: Rain Rain
director: Matt Brown
cinematographer: David Speck
country: USA
year: 2009
A little girl is home alone on a rainy day. Stuck inside she is left to her own devices to search for entertainment. The search ends when she stumbles into her father’s forbidden office and finds something interesting…
 TWO, FOUR, SIX
original title: Two, Four, Six
director: Paul C. Babin
cinematographer: Robert Kositcheck Jr.
country: USA
year: 2009
Mateo is a 15 year old boy from East Los Angeles. His mother is single and vulnerable to emotional extremes. As the story opens, we see that Mateo has become his mother’s caretaker; he creates income by selling cocaine; he finds absolution and sustenance in his religious faith and worship of the Madonna. Lastly, we see Mateo yearn for ‘the father’ who should be – perhaps was once there – long ago. That is when Rick, his mom’s estranged boyfriend, unexpectedly returns. Like a lightning bolt, violence and abuse return with him.
 WATCHTOWER
original title: Watchtower
director: Yuan Chien-Wei
cinematographer: Julie Kirkwood
country: USA
year: 2008
Two hired guns make their way to a distant town, searching for a cheating prizefighter they have never met. One of them is a newcomer who’s out to make a name for himself. The other is a reluctant professional just trying to make ends meet. Their job is simple: they know where their man will be and when he will arrive. All that needs to happen is for one of them to pull the trigger. However, nothing goes according to plan and the consequences leave both men forever changed.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
 LEARNING TO FLY
original title: Learning to Fly
director: Jay Torres
cinematographer: Timothy Roarke
country: USA
year: 2009
Learning to Fly is the story of an Alzheimer’s patient who drifts between the present and the past, struggling to comprehend what has happened to her once loving children. We are transferred into her mind as she experiences past visions of happier times.
 WICK
original title: Wick
director: Micah Gallo
cinematographer: Damián Acevedo
country: USA
year: 2009
Nightmarish visions reveal a young female mental patient’s mysterious past.
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