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Adam
Holender, ASC to Be Feted at
Production Expo Plus
Adam Holender, ASC will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for cinematography
during the first annual Production Expo Plus Conference in New York.
The award, which commemorates the 75th anniversary of the International
Cinematographers Guild (ICG), is sponsored by Eastman Kodak Company.
The conference is slated to run Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the Jacob Javitz Center.
Holender will be feted at the awards dinner on Oct.30.
“Adam Holender is an extraordinary person who has made immeasurable contributions
to advancing the art of filmmaking,” says ICG National President
George Spiro Dibie, ASC. “He overcame formidable obstacles in pursuit
of his dream of freely expressing his artistic instincts as a cinematographer.
He has created a distinguished and innovative body of work that has made
an indelible impression on the art form.”
“Our awards dinner, sponsored by Kodak, at the famed Copacabana is a tribute
to talented people who have excelled in their art form and have contributed
to production in the New York community”, commented Robert Sunshine,
vice president of VNU Expositions, the organizer of the show. “We
are delighted that ICG and Kodak have loaned their name to this award.”
Many of Holender’s most memorable narrative films revolve around
New York, where he has lived since migrating from his native Poland in
1966. He was in the front ranks of a new wave of cinematographers who
brought a new way of thinking to the film industry during the 1970s.
His body of work includes such classic films as Midnight Cowboy,
The Panic in Needle Park, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon
Marigolds,
The Seduction of Joe Tynan and To Kill a Priest. His more recent films
include such notable independent features as Fresh, Smoke and I’m
Not Rappaport.
Holender was born in Krakow, Poland, in 1937 just prior to the Nazi invasion
of his native land. He and members of his family were evacuated to Siberia
after the war began in 1939. After the war, Holender returned to Poland,
where he initially studied architecture, which led to his interest in
photography and ultimately filmmaking. Holender earned a degree from
The National Film, Television and Theater School in Lodz, and began his
career in Poland. In 1966, he traveled to Montreal on a tourist visa
at the urging of his father who wanted him to see the world.
Holender rode a Greyhound bus from Montreal to Manhattan. He decided
to stay in New York for a while, and subsequently got a job as a driver
for a “down-and-dirty” documentary production company. About
three months later, Holender got a break when a cinematographer didn’t
show up for work. He segued from shooting documentaries to commercials
and earned his first narrative credit for Midnight Cowboy in 1969.
That classic film was directed by John Schlesinger and featured Dustin
Hoffman and Jon Voight in portrayals of Ratso Rizzo and Joe Buck. Holender
says that the inspiration for the unforgettable images of Rizzo and Buck
riding a bus to Florida were based on his first impressions of the United
States while peering through the windows on his journey from Montreal
to Manhattan.
Several years ago, Holender was speaking to camera crewmembers at a lighting
seminar sponsored by ICG in New York. He said, “Cinematography
is a unique art that is difficult to describe. What other art form involves
so many people working together to create one dream? When all of the
elements combine, the written word is expressed visually in a way that
exceeds everyone’s expectations. That’s when the story takes
on a new dimension that no one anticipated. It’s a high that is
unexplainable. I don’t have a photographic signature that identifies
my work. I believe every film is unique, and each scene should be approached
with a fresh outlook. I never want the audience to be aware on my photography.
I want them to experience it.”
For more information about Production Expo Plus Conference, visit their
website at www.productionexpoplus.com.
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