Best Cinematography Analysis

Not an easy survey; most awards don't talk about cinematography.

The most significant indicator should be the guild (American Cinematographers Award) but they've been wrong 11 out of 20 years. When they are wrong, it's often because they are trumped by the Best Picture. This year, however, the Best Picture hopeful wasn't even nominated for Cinematography!

The "online Motion Picture Association" has been pretty accurate in the past few years, but this year they (like many others) went for "Return of the King"

This year's statistics are:

• City of God - Cesar Charlone (First nomination)
• Cold Mountain - John Seale (nominated 4 times, won for English Patient)
• LAF = Girl with a Pearl Earring - Eduardo Serra
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Russell Boyd (First nomination)
• ACA = Seabiscuit - John Schwartzman (first nomination)

Awards given for non-Oscar nominees

• DFW, FFC, LVFC, OFC, OMPA = The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• NYF = Harris Savides - Elephant / Gerry

Oy, this is very hard. Master and Commander" is tempting because of the very difficult job of cinematography on an action movie, but I have a feeling that "Cold Mountain" - because the guy is a veteran of many top movies, he has many friends who will vote for him. Cold Mountain.