ASC to Honor Angelina Jolie with Board of Governors Award

The American Society of Cinematographers announces Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie as the recipient of the 2018 ASC Board of Governors Award. 

The presentation will be made to her at the 32nd Annual ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement on Feb. 17 at Hollywood & Highland’s Ray Dolby Ballroom.

The ASC Board of Governors Award is given to individuals in the industry whose body of work has made significant and indelible contributions to cinema. It is the only ASC Award not given to a cinematographer, and is reserved for filmmakers who have been champions for directors of photography and the visual art form.

“Angelina Jolie sets a high standard," says ASC President Kees van Oostrum. “She is a true artist, with a strong vision and collaborative spirit. She has also entertained us through her work, but more importantly has brought significant social issues to our attention. For her wide-ranging accomplishments, we are honored to present her with our Board of Governors Award.” 

As an actress, Jolie’s career kicked into high gear when she won Golden Globe Awards for her roles in George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998). The latter also earned her a SAG Award, and both garnered Emmy nominations for Jolie.

Those award-winning performances were followed in 1999 with an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Broadcast Film Critics’ Award, and a SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress, among other honors, for Jolie’s performance in James Mangold’s Girl, Interrupted. Jolie’s numerous film credits include Walt Disney Pictures’ Maleficent, Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart, the action-adventure Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Martin Campbell’s Beyond Borders, in which she played a United Nations relief worker.

In 2011, Jolie made her feature-film directorial debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey (photographed by Dean Semler, ASC, ACS), and in 2014 directed and produced the Oscar-nominated Unbroken (photographed by Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC). She also directed, produced and wrote By the Sea (photographed by Christian Berger, AAC) and is executive producer on the animated feature film set in Afghanistan, The Breadwinner.

For her fourth feature as a director, Jolie took on First They Killed My Father, currently streaming on Netflix. The film has earned BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, and Oscar-winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, ASC, BSC, DFF took home the Bronze Frog at the 2017 Camerimage International Film Festival. (You'll find an interview with him here.)

In addition to her work as a filmmaker, Jolie is Special Envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, co-founder of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, and a Visiting Professor in Practice at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Previous recipients of the ASC Board of Governors Award include Ridley Scott, Barbra Streisand, Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts, Christopher Nolan, Warren Beatty, Francis Ford Coppola, Sally Field, Morgan Freeman, Ron Howard, Sydney Pollack, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, among many others. 

UPDATE: Watch Jolie's complete ASC Awards presentation video here.