Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/309120
21 MAY-JUN 14 / CINEMONTAGE The Statuette is displayed at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre at the Academy headquarters in Beverly Hills, until the new Academy of Motion Pictures Museum in Los Angeles is completed, at which point it will be installed there. At the Sci-Tech Awards, which was partially re-broadcast during the Oscars, director Christopher Nolan — an outspoken advocate for film — accepted the Oscar Statuette on behalf of film lab workers, as well as representing the many directors and cinematographers who still prefer film over digital. "I'm very pleased to be here speaking on behalf of this award to the men and women who practiced this very special alchemy of film," Nolan said. "For over 100 years, in various windowless rooms, they have turned silver and plastic into dreams. And not just any kind of dreams, but the kind of dreams you can unspool from a reel, hold in your hand, hold up to the light. And these dreams can be run through projectors onto screens where they can spark the imagination, emotions of audiences across the world, as they have for so many years and generations." Even Nolan's upcoming film, Interstellar, was shot on film. Sci-Tech Awards Committee chair Richard Edlund, ASC, reports that the Committee determined to bestow this award because "the coming year is probably the last year of the film lab." Those words proved prophetic when Deluxe announced that it would close its last film laboratory on May 9 of this year, leaving Los Angeles with no remaining union film labs. CineMontage spoke to a group of film lab workers whose careers account for over 300 collective years in the industry. Regardless of their job classification, these workers have uniformly enjoyed a career of handling celluloid and are sad to see this well-honed craft come to an end. One of the highlights of her career in film, says Beverly Wood, a good friend to the lab workers who got her career start at Kodak after receiving a graduate degree in chemistry, has been working with some of the world's top cinematographers, including Roger Deakins, ASC; Dean Semler, ASC; Robert Richardson, ASC; Emanuel Lubezki, ASC; and countless others. She trained in film photochemistry at Kodak and worked for numerous labs in San Francisco and Los Angeles, including Deluxe. "I still go to the lab," she says. "But my job now is to be a technical/creative liaison with the film's creative team." She adds, "People say they don't see me getting a lot of credit on films. My credit is to help these people get their vision on the screen. Collectively, my job is no more important than the person running the developing machines." With 35 years in the industry, Jim Passon — a color timer at Deluxe for the last 21 years — got his start in a photographer's lab and segued to color timing. In his career, he has timed dozens of top films, working with James Cameron on Avatar and Titanic; George Lucas on Star Wars: Episodes 1, 2 and 3; Steven Spielberg on Jurassic Park III and War Horse; Gary Ross on Pleasantville; Tim Burton on Sleepy Hollow; and Terrence Malick on The Tree of Life, among others. "In the old days, we color timers sat down and talked with the creative people," he says. "That close collaboration was very rewarding for me." But times have changed. In the With 35 years in the industry, Jim The Statuette is displayed at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre at the Academy headquarters in Beverly Hills, until the new Academy of Motion Pictures Museum in Los Angeles is completed, at which point At the Sci-Tech Awards, which was partially re-broadcast during the Oscars, director Christopher Nolan — an outspoken advocate for film — accepted the Oscar Statuette on behalf of film lab workers, as well as representing the many directors and cinematographers who still "I'm very pleased to be here speaking on behalf of this award to the men and women who practiced this very special alchemy of film," Nolan said. "For over 100 years, in various windowless rooms, they have turned silver and plastic into dreams. And not just any kind of dreams, but the kind of dreams you can unspool from a reel, hold in your hand, hold up to the light. And these dreams can be run through projectors onto screens where they can spark the imagination, emotions of audiences across the world, as they have for so many years and generations." Even Interstellar, was Sci-Tech Awards Committee chair Richard Edlund, ASC, reports that the Committee determined to bestow this award because "the coming year is probably the last year of the film lab." Those words proved prophetic when Deluxe announced that it would close its last film laboratory on May 9 of this year, leaving Los Angeles with no remaining spoke to a group of film lab workers whose careers account for over 300 collective years in the industry. Regardless of their job classification, these workers have uniformly enjoyed a career of handling celluloid and are sad to see this career in film, says Beverly Wood, cinematographers, including Roger Deakins, ASC; Dean Semler, ASC; Robert Richardson, ASC; Emanuel Lubezki, ASC; and countless others. She trained in film photochemistry at Kodak and worked for numerous labs in San Francisco and Los Angeles, including Deluxe. "I still go to the lab," she says. "But my job now is to be a technical/creative liaison with the film's creative team." She adds, "People say they don't see me getting a lot of credit on films. My credit is to help these people get their vision on the screen. Collectively, my job is no more important than the person running the developing machines." With 35 years in the industry, Jim Passon — a color timer at Deluxe for the last 21 years — got his start in a photographer's lab and segued to color timing. In his career, he has timed dozens of top films, working with James Cameron on Lucas on Steven Spielberg on War Horse Tim Burton on Terrence Malick on among others. "In the old days, we color timers sat down and talked with the creative people," he says. "That close collaboration was very rewarding for me." But times have changed. In the With 35 years in the industry, Jim CineMontage_May-Jun_14-3.indd 21 4/15/14 2:47 PM