38th ASC Awards: Oppenheimer wins big again and is odds-on for the Oscar

Oppenheimer's, ahem, explosive run through awards season has been underscored by it scooping last night's top film prize at the American Society of Cinematographers‘ 38th annual ASC Awards.

Timing is, as they say, everything and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is building up an impressive head of steam as we barrel inexorably towards next weekend's Oscars ceremony and the denouement of the 2024 awards season.

The latest award for its collective mantelpiece went to Hoyte van Hoytema for his work behind the camera at the 38th ASC Annual Awards. This is van Hoytema’s first ASC Award, following previous nominations for an impressive body of work including Dunkirk (2018) and Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy (2012). 

Does that make Oppenheimer a shoo-in for the big one next Sunday? And does that make a van Hoytema a likely candidate for winning the Best Cinematography Oscar?

The momentum is certainly with Nolan's biopic, but the Oscars committee can be a capricious bunch. All the same, our local turf accountant has its odds at 1/33, followed by Poor Things at 16/1 and Barbie at 20/1. That is the very definition of an odds on favorite and anything else winning would be an impressive upset.

In terms of the Best Cinematography prize, the picture is roughly the same. The ASC winner tends to claim the Oscar too around half the time, and van Hoytema is up against the same quartet there as listed in the full ASC winners and nominees below.

Here's the complete list of who won what and who just missed out.

THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM (presented by Lawrence Sher, ASC)
Edward Lachman, ASC for El Conde (Netflix)
Matthew Libatique, ASC, LPS for Maestro (Netflix)
Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC for Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple TV+)
Robbie Ryan, ISC for Poor Things (Searchlight)
Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC for Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures) - WINNER


SPOTLIGHT AWARD (presented by Rodney Taylor, ASC)
Eric Branco for Story Ave. (Kino Lorber)
Krum Rodriguez for Citizen Saint
Warwick Thornton for The New Boy - WINNER


EPISODE OF A ONE-HOUR TELEVISION SERIES (presented by Karen Pittman)
Ricardo Diaz for Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, “The Second Coming” (Max)
Rob C. Givens for Gotham Knights, “Daddy Issues” (CW)
M. David Mullen, ASC for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, “Four Minutes” (Prime Video) - WINNER
Cathal Watters, ASC, ISC for Foundation, “In Seldon’s Shadow” (Apple TV+)
Glen Keenan for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, “Hegemony” (Paramount+)


LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TV (presented by Titus Welliver)
Dan Atherton for Great Expectations, “The Three Keys” (FX)
Sam Chiplin for The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, “Part 1: Black Fire Orchid” (Prime Video)
Ben Kutchins, ASC for Boston Strangler (Hulu) - WINNER
Igor Martinovic for George and Tammy, “Stand by Your Man” (Showtime)
Jason Oldak for Lessons in Chemistry, “Book of Calvin” (Apple TV+)
Tobias Schliessler, ASC for All the Light We Cannot See, “Episode 2” (Netflix)


EPISODE OF A HALF-HOUR SERIES (presented by Dallas Liu and Ian Ousley)
Julian Court, BSC for The Diplomat, “The James Bond Clause” (Netflix)
Carl Herse for Barry, “Tricky Legacies” (Max) - WINNER
Jon Joffin, ASC for Schmigadoon, “Something Real” (Apple TV+)
Blake McClure, ASC for Minx, “I Thought the Bed was Gonna Fly” (Starz)
Andrew Wehde for The Bear, “The Bear” FX)


DOCUMENTARY AWARD (presented by Alma Har’el)
Jeff Hutchens for Murder in Big Horn, “Episode 1” (Showtime)
Curren Sheldon for King Coal - WINNER
D. Smith for Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures)


MUSIC VIDEO AWARD (presented by Mark Pellington)
Scott Cunningham, ASC for Gorilla (Performed by Little Simz)
Jon Joffin, ASC for At Home (Performed by Jon Bryant) -WINNER
Andrey Nikoleav for Tanto (Performed Cassie Marin)

This was Mullen’s fifth nomination for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and his second consecutive win. It's deserved too. Even if the final series didn't scale the heights of the previous ones, it never looked anything less than fabulous.

Joffin, meanwhile, has previously earned ASC Awards for Titans (2022), Motherland: Fort Salem (2020), and Beyond (2019).

And in case Helen Mirren is right and nobody remembers who wins what from year to year, last year’s ASC feature film winner was Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS for Elvis.

Wrapping up, Honorary awards at the ceremony included Spike Lee receiving the ASC Board of Governors Award (presented by Matthew Libatique, ASC, Ellen Kuras, ASC; and Ernest Dickerson, ASC) and Don Burgess, ASC was honored with the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award (presented by Robert Zemeckis). Steve Fierberg, ASC was honored with the ASC Career Achievement in Television Award (presented by Sarah Treem). Amy Vincent, ASC received the Presidents Award (presented by Beverly Wood). The Bud Stone Award was presented by ASC President Shelly Johnson to Sony’s Dan Perry.

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