Ben Cotgrove was the big winner at the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) in Brisbane on Saturday, taking home the Milli Award for Cinematographer of the Year and a Gold Tripod in the Documentary category for his work on A Man’s Man.
Hosted by Ray Martin, the event was held at and newly restored Ithaca Auditorium in Brisbane City Hall and featured presenters including ACS national president, Erika Addis, and special guest of honour Bryan Brown.
Cotgrove said he was “truly humbled” by the Milli Award.
“It is a tremendous honour and great privilege to have won the Milli as the standard of entrants and indeed cinematography in Australia is at the very highest level,” he said.
Also recognised on the night were Nicola Daley, Andy Taylor, and Peter Menzies, who received Hall of Fame Awards from Addis, with Yuri Sokol and Miguel Gallagher sharing the Life Membership Award and Jaclyn Paterson receiving the John Leake Emerging Cinematographer Award.
The Student Cinematography Award of Distinction went to Pete Moses for Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge, with other Gold Tripod winners including Geoffrey Thomas, who won the John Bowring ACS Station Breaks & Promos for The Invisibles promo shoot for National Geographic’s The Invisibles series; Dave May, who took home the Music Videos award for Walker – Life & Death; and Benjamin Foley, who won the Neil Davis International News award for New York Times – Under Attack in Ukraine’s South East.
The Current Affairs award went to Tom Hancock for Foreign Correspondent: Fighting Back, Season 22 / Episode 29 and Josh Flavell won in Entertainment & TV Magazine for Home Australia: Longhouse, Season 2 / Episode 7.
Of the other categories, The Ron Taylor & Valerie Taylor Wildlife & Nature award went to Romilly Spiers for Planet Insect – Hive Minds, Season 1 / Episode 3; Alexander Schultz took out the gong for Short Films with Hitched; Stefan Duscio was awarded the Gold Tripod for Drama Series for Shantaram, Season 1 / Episode 1; and Craig Barden and Marc Spicer won the Feature Films – Budget $3m and Under Feature Films – Budget $3m and over for The Rooster and We Have A Ghost, respectively.
In congratulating the winners, Addis said the standard and quality of Australian cinematographers’ work never ceased to amaze her.
“I would like to wholeheartedly congratulate Ben on winning the Milli, it is an amazing achievement,” she said.
“I would also like to congratulate all the other entrants and award winners for their incredible work. It has been a remarkable year for Australian cinematographers and the Australian Cinematographers Society as we continue to go from strength to strength supporting our craft. Again, well done, and congratulations one and all.”
Find the full list of winners here.