Wild and The Grand Budapest Hotel won top feature honors at the Location Managers Guild of America (LMGA) Awards tonight at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Wild was honored for Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary Film, with location manager Nancy Haecker, LMGA, receiving the award. Haecker is president of the LMGA. Location manager Klaus Darrelmann accepted the LMGA Award for Outstanding Locations in a Period Film on the basis of The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Television honors were bestowed upon True Detective and Boardwalk Empire for Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary and Period Television Series, respectively. Location managers Amanda Burbank and Audra Gorman picked up awards for Boardwalk Empire, while Batou Chandler, LMGA, received the statuette for True Detective.
Winning the LMGA Award for Locations in a Commercial Campaign were David McKinney, LMGA, and Peter Orth, LMGA, for a Ram Trucks package of spots. Copping the honor for Outstanding Locations in a Single Commercial was Coca-Cola’s “America Is Beautiful,” the location professional recipients being Jimmy Ayoub, LMGA, Cyndy McCrossen, LMGA, Peter Orth, LMGA and Stephen Pherigo. Orth earned the distinction of garnering awards in both LMGA commercial categories.
And the LMGA Award for Outstanding Film Commission went to the City of Long Beach (Calif.) Office of Special Events and Filming for its work on NCIS: Los Angeles.
Special honors
Actress Alfre Woodard (State of Affairs) presented the Humanitarian Award to FilmAid International founder and Academy Award-nominated film producer Caroline Baron. Motivated by the surge of refugees from Kosovo migrating to camps in Macedonia, Baron founded FilmAid in 1999 to provide human connection and hope, supplementing basic needs for food and shelter, all through the magic of cinema. She screens classic movies for those who cannot access them otherwise, providing art that nurtures their souls. Additionally, FilmAid’s educational films promote awareness of social issues such as HIV/Aids, women’s rights, pediatric malnutrition, land mine awareness and conflict resolution. Baron’s long list of credits includes Capote, Monsoon Wedding, Being Flynn and The Wonder Years. There are similarities in the work she produces for Hollywood and her work with FilmAid, where the same skillsets apply–building a team, marshalling the necessary resources and working toward the common goal of affecting an audience.
Debbie Allen (Grey’s Anatomy) and Ted Lange (The Love Boat) presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to veteran Kokayi Ampah, the first ever African-American location manager. With a career spanning more than three decades, Ampah has collaborated with leading directors on such iconic films as The Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby (one of six projects he managed for Clint Eastwood) and Amistad, his second film with Steven Spielberg. Ampah’s oeuvre includes Mystic River, The Color Purple, The Soloist and Flags of Our Fathers. The hallmark of his work is making the locations became characters in the films he’s involved with.
And location scout Marino Pascal, creator of the archival forum for location professionals named Locolist, received the Trailblazer Award, presented by Steve Dayan (Teamsters 399 Secretary/Treasurer), for revolutionizing the world of locations in Los Angeles. Pascal’s development of Locolist unites scouts and managers in a community of shared knowledge. He set the bar for the presentation of location photography. Not content to maintain Locolist and build professional websites, Pascal has mentored hundreds of scouts in digital photography and image management. He was one of several driving forces that encouraged the growth of the Location Managers Guild of America.
Serving as award ceremony emcees for the evening were location manager David Doumeng and Lange.
Here’s a rundown of the competition winners:
Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary Film
WILD (Nancy Haecker)
Outstanding Locations in a Period Film
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (Klaus Darrelmann)
Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary Television Series
TRUE DETECTIVE (Batou Chandler)
Outstanding Locations in a Period Television Series
BOARDWALK EMPIRE (Amanda Burbank and Audra Gorman)
Outstanding Locations in a Single Commercial
COCA-COLA “America is Beautiful” (Jimmy Ayoub, Cyndy McCrossen, Peter Orth, Stephen Pherigo)
Outstanding Locations in a Commercial Campaign
RAM TRUCKS (David McKinney and Peter Orth)
