Australian cinematographer Ben Cotgrove has won the Milli Award for 2024 Australian Cinematographer of the Year.
The win was announced at this year’s Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) 54th National Awards, held at the newly restored Ithaca Auditorium in Brisbane City Hall on Saturday night, 4 May.
Cotgrove also won a Gold Tripod in the Documentary category for his work on A Man’s Man, a short documentary described by IMDB as ‘a searing and deeply personal journey into the lives of seven strangers from the North-East of England whose lives intersect at a weekly men’s mental health support group.’
On winning the award, the London-based Cotgrove said, ‘It is a tremendous honour and great privilege to have won the Milli as the standard of entrants and indeed cinematography in Australia is at the very highest level. I am truly humbled to win this award and give my heartfelt thanks to the ACS and all of their sponsors for the awards and everything they do for cinematographers in Australia.’
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ACS National President Erika Addis said, ‘I would like to wholeheartedly congratulate Ben on winning the Milli, it is an amazing achievement. I would also like to congratulate all the other entrants and award winners for their incredible work. Year after year the standard and quality of Australian cinematographers’ work never ceases to amaze me. It has been a remarkable year for Australian cinematographers and the Australian Cinematographers Society as we continue to go from strength to strength supporting our craft. Again, well done and congratulations one and all.’
Ray Martin hosted the awards, alongside presenters including ACS national president, Erika Addis, and special guest of honour Bryan Brown AM.
Hall of Fame Awards were given to Nicola Daley ACS BSC, Andy Taylor ACS and Peter Menzies Snr ACS, and a Life Membership Award was given to Yuri Sokol ACS and Miguel Gallagher, with the John Leake OAM ACS Emerging Cinematographer Award to Jaclyn Paterson.
The Student Cinematography Award of Distinction went to Pete Moses for Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge.
Other Gold Tripod winners included Geoffrey Thomas, who won the John Bowring ACS Station Breaks & Promos for The Invisibles promo shoot for National Geographic’s The Invisibles series about a drug cartel, and Dave May ACS took home the Music Videos award for Walker – Life & Death.
Benjamin Foley won the Neil Davis International News award for New York Times – Under Attack in Ukraine’s South East.
The Current Affairs award went to Tom Hancock for Foreign Correspondent: Fighting Back, Season 22 / Episode 29.
Josh Flavell ACS won in Entertainment & TV Magazine category for Home Australia: Longhouse, Season 2 / Episode 7.
The Ron Taylor AM ACS & Valerie Taylor AM Wildlife & Nature award went to Romilly Spiers for Planet Insect – Hive Minds, Season 1 / Episode 3.
Alexander Schultz took out the gong for Short Films with Hitched.
The Gold Tripod for Drama Series went to Stefan Duscio ACS for Shantaram, Season 1 / Episode 1.
Feature Films – Budget $3m and under – went to Craig Barden ACS for The Rooster.
The Gold Tripod for Feature Films – Budget $3m and over – was awarded to Marc Spicer ACS for We Have A Ghost.
For a complete list of 2024 winners, head to the Australian Cinematographers Society National Awards website.
