One of the most respected and acclaimed cinematographers in the world, Oscar nominated Rodrigo Prieto received the Visionary Award in Cinematography this past weekend at the Cine Gear Expo held at the Warner Bros. Studios.

Prieto has become known for his meticulous setups, unconventional camerawork, and rich use of color. He’s been nominated for four Academy Awards for his work on Brokeback Mountain, Silence, The Irishman, and this year’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

His collaboration with fellow Mexican, director Alejandro González Iñárritu in Amores Perros in 2000. His next two film with Iñárritu, 21 Grams, which starred Sean Penn and Naomi Watts and Babel, which starred Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and was nominated for seven Academy Awards (and a win for composer Gustavo Santaolalla), are the films regarded as the renaissance of Mexican cinema. 

Other notable films include some of Hollywood’s iconic films such as Passengers, Argo, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Barbie. It is not  why Prieto is hailed as one of the greatest cinematographer of his time.

Prieto is currently in post-production for his directorial debut, an adaptation of Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, which is considered one of the most revered Mexican Novels of the 20th century. The film follows a dusty road to a town of death. Time shifts from one consciousness to another in a hypnotic flow of dreams, desires, and memories, a world of ghosts dominated by the figure of Pedro Páramo lover, overlord, murderer. Pedro Paramo was filmed in Mexico with a mostly Mexican cast.

Leading the cast on the Netflix produced film are Manuel García-Rulfo (Lincoln Lawyer)  as Pedro Paramo and Tenoch Huerta as Juan Preciado. They are joined by Ilse Salas, Mayra Batalla, Héctor Kotsifakis, Roberto Sosa, Dolores Heredia, Giovanna Zacarías, Noé Hernández and Yoshira Escárrega among many other well-known talents.

The post Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto Honored at Cine Gear Expo first appeared on .

Martin Scorsese’s recent film The Irishman on Netflix has become a hit with critics and audiences alike and with members of the Academy of Montion Pictures Arts and Sciences who just gave the film 10 Oscar nominations.

Though filled with the Scorsese trademarks, its most notable feature is the CGI effects used to de-age the main actors, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, thanks to its Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto.

Prieto was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He’s known for his style of “strong moody lighting”. As well as experimental and unconventional camera techniques.

Over his career, Prieto has worked with a variety of highly respected American and international directors, including Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, Pedro Almodóvar, Spike Lee and multiple collaborations with Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu.  He has also collaborated with Martin Scorsese in three films, including The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence and now, The Irishman. For his cinematography work with Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and Scorsese (Silence), Prieto received two Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography.

In The Irishman, Prieto faced the challenge of visual journey within 309 scenes and 295 different sets. Influenced by still photography, he used color science to create distinctive colors for each decade. From the use of Kodachrome emulation to emphasize colors and brightness for the film in the 1950’s, to the end of the film being colorless and bleak through bleach bypass.

For the CGI de-aging of the main actors, Prieto had to use three cameras, a primary camera and two witness cameras to capture each angle. He also used infrared tracking marks on the actors as visual markers for the CGI in post-production. At times, there were as many as three of these “Three Headed Monster” cameras capturing the actors.

Soon after its release on November 27^th, The Irishman soon went on to win the Board of Review’s Best Film of 2019.  It was also honored as one of the ten AFI’s Motion Pictures of the Year 2019 list; with 5 Golden Globe nominations. Adding ten (10) Oscar nominations to this impressive list, one of those for Prieto for Best Cinematography.

With all of the critical praise and recognition The Irishman it’s no doubt on its way for Oscar gold. If nominated for Best Cinematography, Prieto could become the 5^th Latino to win Best Cinematography. Continuing the strong and growing presence of Latinos behind the camera.

Latino Oscar winners for Best Cinematography up to 2019:

Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity, Birdman and The Revenant)

Guillermo Navarro (Pan’s Labyrinth)

Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)

Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)

Oscar Nominated Latino cinematographers up to 2019:

Gabriel Figueroa (The Night if the Iguana)

César Charlone (City of God)

John A. Alonzo (Chinatown)

William A. Fraker (Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Heaven Can Wait, 1941, WarGames, and Murphy’s Romance)

Honorable Mentions: Other Latino/Hispanic Cinematographers in films of 2019:

Gabriel Beristain (Iron Man 3, Suicide Squad, Blood In Blood Out)

Checco Varese (It Chapter Two and Replicas)

Pablo Díez (The Final Wish)

Patrick Munguia (Miss Bala)

Juan García Gonzalez (Wonder Park)

Robert Rodriguez (Red 11)

Michael Dallatorre (Brightburn)

Javier Aguirresarobe (Dora and the Lost City of Gold)

Julio Macat (After the Wedding)

Pedro Luque (Jacob’s Ladder)

Natasha Braier (Honey Boy)

César Charlone (The Two Popes)

The post Behind the Lens: Oscar Nominee Rodrigo Prieto For "The Irishman" first appeared on .

Oscar award-winning actor Robert De Niro was in Cabo San Lucas this past November 13-17th for the Los Cabo International Film Festival for the screening of Martin Scorsese’s much-lauded feature The Irishman, in which De Niro not only has the lead role but is one of the producers. On hand for the screening was Academy award-nominated actress and the pride of Mexico, Yalitza Aparicio (Roma).

De Niro was on hand to introduce The Irishman, the much-anticipated Scorsese directed story, that is a reflection on hidden ties between organized crime and American political elites. Also on hand was Mexican Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto whose work in The Irishman continues the excellence he is known for. With two Oscar nominations (Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Silence (2017) there is a reason he is a much sought after cinematographer.

Los Cabo International Film Festival was founded in 2012 by Scott Cross, Sean Cross, Eduardo Sanchez-Navarro Redo, Alfonso Pasquel, Juan Gallardo Thurlow, Eduardo Sánchez-Navarro Rivera Torres, and Pablo Sanchez-Navarro. It takes place annually in mid-November in Los Cabos, Mexico. It was created to create exposure to the Mexican film industry and it’s up and coming filmmakers.

The Los Cabos Intl Film Festival showcases full-length, short films, and documentaries, created by some of the most notable up-and-coming filmmakers across Mexico, The United States, and Canada. With its mission to make a positive contribution to the development of world film culture with a special focus on Mexican, American and Canadian films, showcasing Mexican and Latin American talent to the North American market, through a carefully curated film program and a dynamic industry platform headed by Los Cabos Meet – MART.

Located just 15 minutes away from colonial San Jose del Cabo, Destinations in Paradise’s Casa Bellamar’s oceanfront property served as the luxury home base for The Los Cabos International Film Festival. The luxury villa is amidst one of the rarest beach destinations in the world.

For more information about The Los Cabos International Film Festival, please visit:  https://www.cabosfilmfestival.com/

The post Robert De Niro and Yalitza Aparicio At Los Cabos Intl Film Fest first appeared on .