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Pete Kozachik, ASC Tells Tales in New Memoir

For aspiring cinematographers and visual-effects artists, his personal story offers a candid, inspiring account of the difficulty in finding success in these fields.

David E. Williams

Pete Kozachick, ASC

Visual-effects cinematographer and animation specialist Pete Kozachik, ASC recently published his memoir,Tales from the Pumpkin King's Cameraman, through River Grove Books.


Working in collaboration with his wife, Katy Moore-Kozachik, he details his entire career, offering a candid view on his early days working on low-budget commercials, leading up to his tenure at Industrial Light & Magic (working on projects including Willow, InnerSpace and Howard the Duck), and shooting the stop-motion animated features The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Corpse Bride and Coraline.


For aspiring cinematographers and visual-effects artists, his personal story offers a candid, inspiring account of the difficulty in finding success in these difficult fields and the need to find creative collaborators.



The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

James and the Giant Peach (1996)

Corpse Bride (2005)

This 322-page title, featuring introductory notes by longtime collaborators Tim Burton and Henry Selick — as well a forward penned by Dennis Muren, ASC — is illustrated with numerous unseen photos from Kozachik's personal archive.


The book is now available here from the ASC Store.


The cinematographer with characters from Corpse Bride.




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