Two-time Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique, ASC will receive the American Film Institute’s Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal, which will be presented at the upcoming AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute to Nicole Kidman on April 27, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The Schaffner Alumni Medal recognizes the extraordinary creative talents of AFI Conservatory alumni who embody the qualities of filmmaker Franklin J. Schaffner: talent, taste, dedication and commitment to quality storytelling in film and television. Libatique is an alum of the AFI class of 1992. Past recipients of the Schaffner Alumni Medial include Darren Aronofsky, Lesli Linka Glatter, Siân Heder, Patty Jenkins, Janusz Kamiński, Mimi Leder, David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Melina Matsoukas and Rachel Morrison.
“Matthew Libatique is one of our generation’s defining voices in the art of visual storytelling,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “Now, AFI is honored to shine the light upon on him–celebrating his impact on the art form and the pride he brings us as a graduate of the AFI Conservatory.”
Libatique’s latest work can be seen in the critically acclaimed Maestro (2023), directed, produced, co-written by and starring Bradley Cooper, and in A24’s Academy Award®-winning film The Whale (2022), where he reteamed with director Darren Aronofsky (AFI class of 1992), his longtime collaborator who he met on their third day while attending the AFI Conservatory.
Aronofsky and Libatique previously collaborated on projects including Pi (1998); Requiem for a Dream (2000), which earned Libatique a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography; The Fountain (2006); Black Swan (2010), for which he received his first Academy Award® nomination; Noah (2014); and Mother! (2017), starring Jennifer Lawrence.
In 2021, Libatique shot Don’t Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde’s story of a 1950s housewife living in a utopian experimental community. This project marked his second time working with Wilde, having lensed the short Wake Up, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Previously, Libatique worked with director Ryan Murphy on The Prom (2020) starring this year’s AFI Life Achievement Award honoree Nicole Kidman along with Jo Ellen Pellman, Meryl Streep, James Corden, Keegan-Michael Key, Andrew Rannells, Ariana DeBose and Kerry Washington.
Libatique received Academy Award® and American Society of Cinematographers nominations for his lensing of Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut A Star is Born (2018), starring Lady Gaga. To add to the DP's impressive list of credits, he has also collaborated with Academy Award® winner Spike Lee on numerous films, including Inside Man (2006), Miracle at St. Anna (2008), Chi-Raq (2015) and She Hate Me (2004). Libatique also shot the anti-hero action blockbuster Venom (2018), the Oscar®-nominated Straight Outta Compton (2015), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Everything is Illuminated (2005) and Tigerland (2000), as well as Academy Award®-nominated superhero films Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010), kicking off a defining style for the Marvel universe franchise. He is represented by UTA in the United States.
The air dates for The 49th AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Nicole Kidman special on TNT and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will be announced at a later date. This marks the ninth year the Emmy®-winning AFI Life Achievement Award special will air on TNT.
Austrian activist wins privacy/targeted advertising case against Meta over personal data on sexual orientation
The European Union's top court said Friday that social media company Meta can't use public information about a user's sexual orientation obtained outside its platforms for personalized advertising under the bloc's strict data privacy rules.
The decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg is a victory for Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, who has been a thorn in the side of Big Tech companies over their compliance with 27-nation bloc's data privacy rules.
The EU court issued its ruling after Austria's supreme court asked for guidance in Schrems' case on how to apply the privacy rules, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.
Schrems had complained that Facebook had processed personal data including information about his sexual orientation to target him with online advertising, even though he had never disclosed on his account that he was gay. The only time he had publicly revealed this fact was during a panel discussion.
"An online social network such as Facebook cannot use all of the personal data obtained for the purposes of targeted advertising, without restriction as to time and without distinction as to type of data," the court said in a press release summarizing its decision.
Even though Schrems revealed he was gay in the panel discussion, that "does not authorise the operator of an online social network platform to process other data relating to his sexual orientation, obtained, as the case may be, outside that platform, with a view to aggregating and analysing those data, in order to offer him personalised advertising."
Meta said it was awaiting publication of the court's full judgment and that it "takes privacy very seriously."
"Everyone using Facebook has... Read More