American photographer, filmmaker and director of photography Edward Lachman received the Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography during a special tribute ceremony on May 18, 2018 at the Buñuel Theatre in the Palais des Festivals at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.
Todd Haynes and Thierry Frémaux gave glowing remarks about the legendary cinematographer, who was clearly moved by the recognition. A special tribute reel was also shown, featuring Julianne Moore, Sophia Coppola, Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, Ulrich Seidl, Steven Soderbergh, Wim Wenders and others.
With a career spanning 45 years and comprising an eclectic mix of over 75 films and documentaries, Lachman has served as director of photography on films by Werner Herzog, Jonathan Demme, Susan Seidelman, Dennis Hopper, Paul Schrader, Mira Nair, Andrew Niccol, Robert Altman, Todd Solondz and Larry Clark. Many films on which he worked as cinematographer were official Cannes selections, including documentaries by Wim Wenders – including ”Lightning over Water,” co-directed with Nicholas Ray, or “Tokyo-Ga” (Little Wars), “A Gathering of Old Men” by Volker Schlöndorff, “Virgin Suicides” by Sofia Coppola, “Import/Export” and “The Paradise Trilogy” by Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl and “The Limey” by Steven Soderbergh, whose “Erin Brockovich” he also endowed with a crisp, realistic tone.
Lachman’s work on Todd Haynes’s last four films (Far from Heaven, I’m Not There, Carol, Wonderstruck ) took on a new dimension, set between expressionism and intimacy, classical aesthetics and modern stylization.
The young Chinese director of photographer Cecile Zhang also received a special acknowledgement during the ceremony, presented by actor/filmmaker Xu Zheng.
Each year, the festival places the spotlight on a director of photography whose work has marked the history of world cinema. Since its inception in 2013, homage has been paid to Philippe Rousselot (AFC, ASC), Vilmos Zsigmond (HSC, ASC) in 2014, Roger A. Deakins (BSC, ASC) in 2015, Peter Suschitzky (ASC) in 2016 and Christopher Doyle in 2017.
Photos courtesy of Pierre Laporte Communication
