Kodak's Inaugural Auteur Awards

Steve Bellamy, President of Kodak's Motion Picture and Entertainment Group announced today that six of the most talented independent filmmakers, Ondi Timoner, Brady Corbet, JT Mollner, Julius Onah, Dennis Hauck and Ti West were the inaugural recipients of the KODAK Auteur Award on February 26 at Kodak's OSCAR® Gala at Nobu, Los Angeles, in front of a standing room only crowd of industry icons. That evening, movies shot on film also received a total of 8 Academy Awards® from 30 nominations, including La La Land's Damien Chazelle’s win for Best Director and Linus Sandgren's win for Best Cinematography.

The KODAK Auteur Award recognizes talented motion picture artists who have created critically-acclaimed feature length motion picture art, have a substantial likelihood of creating similar pieces of critically acclaimed motion picture art for decades to come, and have sacrificed to a significant extent to make the art that they want to make, the way that they want to make it. Kodak is pleased to continue honoring similarly accomplished and like-minded filmmakers with the KODAK Auteur Award in years to come.

"We recognize those master craftsmen who resolutely put their art above all else," said Bellamy. "We recognize those who have started their career and are making a career by refusing to compromise when it comes to their art, because these will be the artists whose work and whose careers will stand the test of time. We celebrate filmmakers like Ondi Timoner, who is shooting 8mm film in the jungles of Panama for her new series on Viceland, and Dennis Hauck who only used 5 shots in his masterpiece Too Late. Dennis used 2000 foot loads of 35mm film, shooting in 2-perf for over 20-minute long takes. The camera rig was so heavy that they had to switch cameramen in mid take for each scene. These are the types of artists that Kodak wants to help for decades to come as they will be the next generations of Nolans, Spielbergs, Tarantinos, Scorseses and Abrams."

Brady Corbet – Director/Writer/Producer/Actor – Brady Corbet made his directorial debut in 2008 with Protect You + Me. His feature film, The Childhood of a Leader (2015) - which he wrote, produced and directed - won the Best Debut Film and Best Director awards at the 72^nd Venice International Film Festival, and also earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature. His 2018 film, Vox Lux, is being shot on 65mm film and will star Rooney Mara and Jude Law.

Julius Onah – Director/Writer/Producer - Julius Onah is best known for The Girl Is in Trouble (2015), Big Man (2012), and Don’t Look Back (2008), which won the 2008 Nokia Mobile Movie Award. He received his Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Onah’s film, God Particle, for Paramount and Bad Robot will be released later this year starring Elizabeth Debicki, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Daniel Bruhl.

Dennis Hauck – Director/Writer/Producer Dennis Hauck is best known for the critically acclaimed, Too Late (2015) and Sunday Punch (2010). Hauck’s Too Late, starring John Hawkes, Jeff Fahey, Joanna Cassidy, Robert Forster and Sydney Poitier was shot on 35mm film with has been praised for using only 5 cuts throughout the film.

Ti West – Director/Writer/Producer Ti West is noted for his work in horror films. He is best known for his directorial work in V/H/S (2012), The Innkeepers (2011), which won the Scariest Film Award at the 2011 Toronto After Dark Film Festival, and The House of the Devil (2009), which won the Best of Bucheon at the 2009 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. His 2016 film In A Valley of Violence, starring Ethan Hawke and John Travolta and produced by Jason Blum, had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival last year.

Ondi Timoner – Director/Writer/Producer Ondi Timoner is the founder and CEO of the award-winning production company, Interloper Films. One of the most award winning documentarians of all time, Ondi is the only two-time recipient of the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for her documentaries DIG! and We Live in Public. Timoner will soon shoot her first pre-scripted actor film, Mapplethorpe, and is in the process of shooting another documentary, A Total Disruption.

JT Mollner – Director/Writer/Producer JT Mollner wrote and directed Sugartown (2011), and Henry John and The Little Bug (2009), which both won awards at HollyShorts Film Festival, and The Red Room (2008). All three of Mollner’s award-winning shorts have been acquired by Shorts International for worldwide distribution. This past year, Mollner wrote and directed the 2016 feature film Outlaws and Angels, starring Chad Michael Murray, Luke Wilson, Franchesca Eastwood, Madisen Beaty and Frances Fisher, which Variety touted as one of the best films at the Sundance Film Festival.

About Kodak

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