The inaugural NZCS Awards were judged a resounding success by the sellout crowd at the Heritage Grand Tearoom, in Auckland last night.

Photo: Presenting the Al Guilford Emerging Cinematographer Award. Sandra Clover Smith, Sophie Guilford, Christian Hipolito, Antonia Prebble, Richard Bluck NZCS.

Photo: The Al Guilford Emerging Cinematographer Award. Sandra Clover Smith, Sophie Guilford, Christian Hipolito, Antonia Prebble, Richard Bluck NZCS.

The inaugural NZCS Awards were judged a resounding success by the sellout crowd at the Heritage Grand Tearoom last Saturday and NZCS offers a huge thank you to everyone involved.

The event was led by master of ceremonies Antonia Prebble who helped make the evening entertaining and moving along smoothly with lots of breaks for socialising.

The climax of the evening was Ginny Loane winning NZCS Cinematographer of the Year for Mahana directed and written by Lee Tamahori, who was on hand to offer his congratulations.

Over dessert, guest of honour Tom Stern ASC AFC, surprised the audience by waving a roll of genuine 35mm film stock. Then, like a Clint Eastwood gunslinger he drew a mobile phone and GoPro from each pocket as a vivid illustration of how the world of cinematography is changing.

This view was thoroughly reinforced by the amazing range of clips that demonstrated that New Zealand produces world-class cinematographers across a wide range of genres.

The Australian cinematography community supported the occasion by sending special guests Ron Johanson OAM ACS, ACS National President and David Lewis ACS, ACS NSW President and ACS National Vice President, and a number of Australian-based sponsors.