NFTS Alumnus Wins 'Best Cinematography' Oscar for 'Blade Runner 2049'

NFTS alumnus, Roger Deakins – who has been nominated for an Oscar an incredible 14 times - finally won an Academy Award last night for ‘Best Cinematography’ for Blade Runner 2049.

Roger thanked his team in his acceptance speech saying: “I really love my job. I’ve been doing it a long time, as you can see, but one of the reasons I really love it is the people I work with, both behind the camera and in front of the camera. This is for every one of them.”

Blade Runner 2049 director, Denis Villeneuve visited the School the day after Roger won a BAFTA for ‘Best Cinematography’ for the film and praised Roger for - “the strength of his storytelling as well as being a master with light; I learn so much working with Roger.”

Roger also visited the School recently and delivered an inspiring masterclass for the new first year students advising them: “So much of filmmaking is a jigsaw. It might be weeks apart from location to set but it needs to flow and feel like one piece.” During the same visit, the Cinematography MA students were treated to a lighting workshop of a lifetime and he took them for pizza – what a legend!

Two more NFTS alumni were nominated for Oscars including Stuart Wilson who clocked up his fifth nomination, this time for Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the ‘Sound Mixing’ category. Hugh Welchman received his second Oscar nomination, having won an Oscar previously for short film, Peter and The Wolf. His 2018 nomination was in the ‘Animated Feature’ category for, Loving Vincent.

If you would like to follow in Roger’s footsteps, find out more about our Cinematography MA here: nfts.co.uk/cinematography