Dante Spinotti, “Acceptance Speech”, 26th Annual ASC Awards Gala, Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom, Sunday, February 12, 2012

Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco says in one of his books that art is art only when it renews its language features and its ways of communication. For this, and some other reasons, including a very long friendship, it has been great to have the opportunity to work with over so many years.

I am particularly grateful to Martha de Laurentiis for being here with us tonight. Martha's late husband, Dino de Laurentiis, was the producer who convinced Michael Mann to hire me as on his film “Manhunter”—my first feature film in the United States. I was coming off a rejection for a picture Dino tried to get me in , and Dino told me not to worry, that he would get this hot, upcoming young American director to hire me, and he did.

And thanks also to . With him, I photographed “Beaches,” my first Hollywood movie. Thanks to good friend , my next employer, to Mark Abraham, my future employer. And more thanks to —I’m grateful he called me for the inspired “Slipstream,” the film he directed; and Marcel Langenegger for a great shoot in New York. And thanks also to the Italian Consul General Giuseppe Perrone, and to all my dear friends for being here tonight.

Good does not happen without great collaborators, so I am happy to see here the people who were with me on some of my best work—they would probably say “all” my best work. They include two great operators—Gary Jay and Duane Manwiller—and two fantastic gaffers, Jay Fortune and Jeff Petersen.

In 1970, I was working on a TV film for Italian State Television, RAI—a movie called “Camilla,” starring Giulietta Masina—Fellini’s wife. It was 35mm, and I was shooting a handheld scene. I had just read in American Cinematographer that was using a 10 to one, 16mm zoom lens in order to be able to hand-hold the camera, and he was using a doubler behind the lens to cover the 35mm format. There I was, shooting 35mm handheld with a 10 to one Angenieux zoom, and creating an overnight sensation in the cinema department!!

So, by the way, thanks Haskell, for your continuous inspiration.

A few years later, I was on a Fiat commercial in Switzerland, and from a helicopter, I was shooting a white Fiat car driving up Swiss mountains in a very white, snowy environment. Nobody, director or agency, had an idea on how to end this commercial, how to do the final product shot. I suggested that we imitate the finale of “Close Encounters”— the car on a white limbo set, a big mirror at 45 degrees behind the car, a few hot PARs shining into the mirror in backlight toward the camera, and a smoke filled stage.

A Swiss crew in Lugano worked overnight to build it. I myself operated the Steadicam. I do not know exactly how I did it, since Steadicam was a new tool back then, but I used it to continue on the car the floating sensation of the helicopter. The following day, the reaction at the lab was that the negative was unprintable—way overexposed. I had the negative sent to Technicolor Rome, and there, color timer Ernesto Novelli used the ENR print process to make the shot work.

The interesting part of this story is that recently told me that, after the first day of shooting the famous finale of “Close Encounters,” he was also told by the lab that the negative was impossible to print!!!

These are just a couple of episodes, but they illustrate how American Cinematographer magazine has always supported and promoted technical information, as well as cultural exchanges, between film professionals all over the world. So thanks Vilmos for your teaching and friendship.

My thanks go to President Michael Goi and the ASC Board of Directors for this Lifetime Award. But, beyond the ASC, I would also like to thank the film community at large, because in the 25 lively years or so of living and working in this country, I have met so many wonderful people, and many of them are now good friends.

And speaking of friends, just to bring back some memories, let me recall the first time I met Bill Fraker. It was on an empty stage in Hollywood. Bill greeted me with a warm smile and words of encouragement as if I was an old friend. I would like to remember what he said once as President of the ASC:

“It is our responsibility as members of the ASC to advance and perpetuate our art form, and we share a mutual obligation to pass our dream on to the next generation,” Bill said at the time. And so, my compliments also go out to the ASC for continuing this legacy, doing such excellent work in these days of a complex transition to new technologies, and for being a major point of reference for film associations of all kinds the world over.

I apologize to Larry Hezzelwood because I am not at his Panavision table tonight. And my best wishes to Phil Radin for a good and full recovery. Good suggestions on Kodak emulsions always came to me from Don Henderson down there, so thanks to you Don, as well.

Of course, so many thanks go to my wife Marcella. I am definitely sharing this Lifetime Achievement award with her. She is a truly enthusiastic Los Angeleno whose activity with her non-profit organization supports cultural exchanges between Italy and the American community here.

Also, one of my three sons, Riccardo, is here with his girlfriend Nisey. He just finished his studies at AFI (a great school, by the way). Riccardo has little interest in the technical part of the craft, and just sets his HD camera to auto. That’s why I advised him to study directing!! But his passion and talent is cinema, and I wish him all the best.

And my gratitude to Ann Murtha, talent agent extraordinaire, who is here tonight with her husband Steve Mason, for so many years of friendship and collaboration.

And finally, thanks to all for giving me one of the most memorable moments in my life this evening.