This time, Oscar night could be — and should be — different for female cinematographers
Cinematographer Ari Wegner already has been recognized — rightly — for her painstakingly glorious work on Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” winning a Critics Choice Award, in addition to being the first woman ever to win the British Society of Cinematographers feature award.
But, of course, the biggest prize of all would be the Academy Award. And should Wegner, 37, take home the Oscar for Best Cinematography on
March 27, she would become the first woman to win in that category. (Not that female cinematographers have had a lot of cracks at Oscar; Wegner is only the second ever to be nominated, after Rachel Morrison, for “Mudbound,” in 2018.)
Wegner’s success is cause to celebrate. But such a historic moment is also frustrating, if not maddening. It throws a spotlight on the challenges female cinematographers have always faced. Women make up only 6% of all the cinematographers who worked on the 100 topgrossing films of 2021, according to the annual Celluloid Ceiling report. Since 1998, when reporting began, we have seen this number increase by only two percentage points, and this after several decades of women executives and directors helping to bring female cinematographers into the industry.
Requiring the most technical and scientific expertise of all the professions responsible for guiding a film, cinematography is arguably the field where women confront the most reductive gender stereotyping. For decades, misogynist assumptions have lingered that women are supposedly ill-suited for the job because they have poor math skills, cannot handle heavy equipment or are not team players (or will not be compatible with the guys on the crew). For decades before that, women simply were excluded.
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in 1919, did not admit a single woman until 1980. At most recent count, in 2020, there were only 18 women among the organization’s 390 members.
Despite so many barriers, women have forged ahead. The recent awardssweeper “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” was lensed by Claire Mathon. Mandy Walker directed the photography for “Hidden Figures,” the live-action “Mulan” and the highly anticipated Baz Luhrmann epic musical production, “Elvis,” set to be released in June. And Ellen Kuras, Agnès Godard, Sandi Sissel, Nancy Schreiber, Charlotte Bruus Christensen and Amy Vincent have had impressive careers that deserve further recognition.
It will be a great triumph if Wegner wins the Academy Award. It should also be a moment of sober reflection. We lost a budding cinematographer last year when Halyna Hutchins, 42 and Ukrainianborn —named one of 10 “rising star” directors of photography by American Cinematographer in 2019 — was fatally wounded on the set of the low-budget western “Rust.” Struck by a bullet fired from actor Alec Baldwin’s prop .45 Colt revolver, she died en route to the hospital. An investigation continues.
For all of the dramatic details that came out, the story that kept getting lost was that crew on the set had been protesting safety issues for some time. These included 13-hour workdays, exacerbated by long commutes to and from the set, which could result in exhaustion, possibly leading to a breach of safety protocols. Crew members voiced specific concerns over gun safety.
In fact, a wrongfuldeath lawsuit filed by Hutchins’ husband on Feb. 15, claims that producers and higher-ups “repeatedly brushed aside concerns from crew members about the dangerous handling of guns, including a text message from a camera operator days before Hutchins died that there had already been three accidental gun discharges.”
It’s easier, and feels more like a movie, to focus on the minute-byminute timeline of events surrounding the bullet striking Hutchins just below her armpit, propelling her to the floor.
But it’s much more important to understand the industry climate that created the conditions that led to the death of a flourishing female cinematographer, of which there are so few.
It shouldn’t be the case that a female director of photography is more likely to die on the set of a film than she is to claim an Academy Award.
But, statistically speaking, that’s where we are.
I hope Wegner changes that on Oscar night. And that a lot more changes follow.
Christina Lane is the Edgar®-Award winning author of “Phantom Lady: Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock” and has provided commentary for Daily Mail, Ms. Magazine, and Turner Classic
Movies. She is professor of film studies at the University of Miami and a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project.