The Oscar for Best Cinematography has been awarded to James Friend for All Quiet on the Western Front, as just announced at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The award winner was presented with the famous gold statuette at the 95th Academy Awards.
Australian Greig Fraser had picked up last year’s award for his work on Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune. Fraser beat fellow Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner, who was tipped to make Oscars history by becoming the first woman to win the category, for The Power of the Dog.
James Friend was a first-time Oscar winner for his work alongside director Edward Berger in the Netflix epic. His work will soon be seen in the new Star Wars spin-off, The Acolyte for Disney+. Prior to his Oscar success, he worked on shows as varied as Willow, The War of the Worlds, Patrick Melrose and Your Honor.
All Quiet on the Western Front is an anti-war epic which follows Paul Bäumer, a young man who enlists in the Imperial German Army alongside his closest friends when propaganda from authority figures surrounding them convince them that joining the war effort will make them heroes. But when they arrive in the Western Front, they discover the true horrors of war and realise how deeply unprepared they were.
Two veterans and three first-time nominees had made this a difficult category to predict. Mandy Walker‘s ASC win for Elvis had given her momentum, but All Quiet on the Western Front‘s success at the BAFTAs nudged it in front. They were joined by Florian Hoffmeister for Tár, Darius Khondji for Bardo and – of course – Roger Deakins for his work with Sam Mendes on Empire of Light.
Everything Everywhere All at Once came into the evening as the favourite and front-runner. With 11 nominations, the movie shows up in more categories than any other nominee this year, while All Quiet on the Western Front – the German-language film from Netflix – and The Banshees of Inisherin followed with 9 nominations each.
The return of audiences to movie theatres following the pandemic was also acknowledged, with two films – Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick – both being nominated for Best Picture, having earned over $1 billion each at the worldwide box office, marking the first time two films to pass that milestone had earned nominations.
