Writer Alex Cramer contributed to this report. Article content was taken from The Hollywood Reporter, Twitter and own sources.
“When I talk about Film, there’s a love. It’s just so beautiful and there’s a life and a depth to it."
Adam McKay and Quentin Tarantino on Friday championed the use of Film during the Kodak Film Awards, a now-annual celebration that the celluloid maker holds a week before the Academy Awards.
“For the studios, it goes back to profits, and it’s clear that film is connected with audiences,” said McKay, who shot his Oscar-nominated Vice as well as HBO’s recent Sucession on celluloid. “When I talk about film, there’s a love. It’s just so beautiful and there’s a life and a depth to it, and I thank Kodak for continuing the tradition."
David O’Russell presented McKay with the first Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award during the evening.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, McKay said currently he’s mulling a project “about global warming, and I’m talking with HBO about a series — both will be shot on film.”
Asked about the announcement just hours earlier that the Academy has reversed its plan and will present all categories live during next week’s Oscars broadcast, McKay said, “I’m delighted, it goes without saying. It’s a tricky thing, but when it comes to your team, I back my DP and I back my editor. It was hard, but to reverse it is a credit to [the Academy].”
This year's Kodak Film Awards were held in a massive downtown Los Angeles loft, which was transformed into a hip director’s lounge.
Tarantino — who only uses Film and whose next movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is set to open July 26 — was on hand to accept an award for his L.A.-based New Beverly Theater, which exclusively shows Film prints. ‘If it’s showing at the New Beverly, you know it’s on Film,” he exclaimed to cheers from the crowd.
Exclusive Preview: Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood
"Thx to all who came to 3rd annual @Kodak Film Awards! Everyone was more inspiring than the next! Tx @GhostPanther 4 mesmerizing the room! Tx @ImpossibleFoods 4 fattening us all up! @ChayseIrvin @jeffreyjclarke @JasonBWise #35mm" - @Stevenjbellamy Feb 16
Motion pictures that used Kodak Film and are nominated for Academy Awards this year include A Quiet Place, BlacKkKlansman, Boy Erased, Christopher Robin, First Man, Ready Player One and The Favourite. Additional titles include The Front Runner, Widows and series including Escape at Dannemora and Westworld.
“You saved Film,” Jeff Clarke, CEO of Kodak, the last remaining manufacturer of motion picture Film, told the crowd. Thanking customers for using and championing celluloid, he said, “That is what keeps this medium alive. We must keep it alive.”
Several additional awards were handed out during the celebration, which included cocktails, bites from Impossible Burger and a live performance by The Dan Band.
Lensers Charlotte Bruus Christensen (A Quiet Place) and Chayse Irvin (BlacKKKlansman) received Kodak cinematographer honors.
Awards were presented to Drew Goddard (Bad Times at the El Royale) and Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell), who received auteur prizes; Grant Singer and Brantley Gutierrez, for music videos; and Jason Wise, for documentary work. Wise’s recent work Wait For Your Laugh, documents the late great Rose Marie, who had the longest active career in entertainment. The untold story of fame, love, tragedy and 90 years of American entertainment is shown through the eyes of the woman who did it all. The doc toured the US, along with a variety of special Q&As with the cast/crew, and was projected entirely on 35mm Film. The copies were produced by CPC London, printed directly onto positive 35mm straight from a DCP. Wait For Your Laugh is now available to purchase and stream via AMAZON.
35mm Film printing process: https://www.cpclondon.com/35mm-prints
AMC’s The Walking Dead, which is shot on 16mm and 35mm Film, was honored for series of the year, while Burbank-based Fotokem was recognized as photochemical lab of the year.
Norman Seeff received a Kodak icon award; Tacita Dean, a visual artist award; and photojournalist Giles Duley, who has spent much time in war zones, a humanitarian award.
Of using images to tell stories, Duley said, “Stories have the power to create empathy … and I believe, to create change. I will spend the rest of my life trying to end war.”
At the conclusion of the ceremony, a massive cake, which was designed to look like a stack of Film canisters and which required three people to move, was served.