Steven Bernstein, ASC, DGA, WGA is an American cinematographer, director, screenwriter and author.[1] In 1992 he won the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival for Like Water for Chocolate alongside Emmanuel Lubezki.[2] He also won the Cannes Golden Lion for his work in commercials. His book Film Production (Focal Press) has been translated into several languages and at one time was the bestselling textbook about film making. Bernstein was a 2014 ASC nominee for the Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in One-Hour Episodic Television Series Award for his work on Magic City. Bernstein is a regular contributor to SonyCine Magazine where he writes articles on various aspects of filmmaking.[3][4][5][6][7] Bernstein is a regular subject matter expert for articles about screenwriting and filmmaking for Adobe creative hub.[8][9][10]
Steven Bernstein | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | |
| Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Cinematographer |
| Years active | 1986–present |
Bernstein has directed shorts, music videos and television commercials, and has lectured widely. He made his directing feature film debut with 2014's Decoding Annie Parker (Helen Hunt, Samantha Morton, Aaron Paul), for which he was awarded The Alfred P. Sloan Award at the Hampton's International Film Festival. Bernstein's second feature, Last Call was released theatrically in the US on 25 November 2020. It is a surrealistic biopic about the final day of Alcoholic poet Dylan Thomas's life, starring John Malkovich, Rhys Ifans, Rodrigo Santoro, Romola Garai, Zosia Mamet, and Tony Hale, and which Bernstein wrote, produced, and directed.[11][12] Bernstein's recent script commissions include; A Perfect Place, Angela and Althea and Last Resort[13][14][15]
Since 2016 Bernstein has worked with members of the Greek government to expand the Greek film industry and attract international film and television production to Greece. Bernstein spearheaded an initiative to introduce a tax rebate as an incentive to film producers to shoot in Greece. The tax incentive bill was passed in August 2017 and became effective in February 2018.[16][17] As part of his initiative, Bernstein is training 400 to 500 Greek film students a year and is building a state of the art film studio in Greece.[18]
Bernstein has been featured as the subject of articles in many publications including American Cinematographer Magazine, MovieMaker Magazine, People Magazine, Playboy Magazine and Mancode Magazine.[19][20][21][22][23]
Personal life
editBernstein was born in Buffalo, NY in 1958 to parents Charles Bernstein, M.D. and Sylvia Bernstein.[24] He has a son Adam from his first marriage to Elizabeth Bernstein and currently resides with his partner the designer and film producer Carolyn Rodney.[25][26]
Filmography
edit| Year | Film/Television | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Smart Alec | Cinematographer | |
| 1988 | Jade | ||
| 1989 | Conspiracy | ||
| 1991 | The Diamond Brothers | Television | |
| Deptford Graffiti | |||
| 1992 | Like Water for Chocolate | AKA Como Agua Para Chocolate | |
| No Head for Heights | Director / Cinematographer | Television | |
| 1995 | Kicking and Screaming | Cinematographer | |
| The Monroes | Television | ||
| Moondance | |||
| "The Secretary" | Television | ||
| 1996 | Curdled | ||
| Bulletproof | |||
| Underworld | |||
| Trade-Off | Television | ||
| 1997 | Mr. Jealousy | ||
| Murder at 1600 | |||
| Highball | |||
| 1998 | The Waterboy | ||
| Half Baked | |||
| 1999 | The Wood | ||
| 2000 | More Dogs Than Bones | ||
| Goodbye, Casanova | |||
| 2001 | Corky Romano | ||
| Scary Movie 2 | AKA Scarier Movie | ||
| The Forsaken | AKA Vampires of the Desert | ||
| Christmas in the Clouds | |||
| 2002 | Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie | Television | |
| 2003 | Monster | ||
| 2004 | White Chicks | ||
| 2005 | Threshold | (Television pilot): Trees Made of Glass | |
| 2006 | One Night with the King | ||
| Little Man | |||
| The Jake Effect | 5 episodes: Don't Mess with Sloppy / Flight School / Only Connect / Parent Teacher Conference/Pilot | ||
| Behind the Smile | Appearance: British Reporter | ||
| 2007 | Crawl Space | ||
| 2008 | Tortured | ||
| 2009 | Love at First Hiccup | Appearance: Co-Host Cooking Show - voice on TV | |
| Not Forgotten | |||
| 2013 | Decoding Annie Parker | Director / Writer / Producer | |
| Magic City | Cinematographer/2nd Unit Director | 3 Episodes: Angels of Death / World in Changes / Sins of the Father | |
| 2016 | Dominion | Director / Writer / Producer | |
| 2020 | Last Call | ||
| Walkaway Joe | Cinematographer |
Awards
edit| Year | Film | Position | Award | Organization |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Like Water for Chocolate | Cinematographer | (Won) Best Artistic Contribution Award (Shared with Emmanuel Lubezki) | Tokyo International Film Festival |
| 2003 | Monster | (Won) Creative Ensemble Award | AFI | |
| 2013 | Decoding Annie Parker | Director / Writer | (Nominated) Golden Space Needle Award - Best Film | Seattle International Film Festival |
| (Won) Alfred P. Sloan Award Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology | Hampton's International Film Festival | |||
| 2014 | Magic City | Cinematographer | (Nominated) ASC Award - Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in One-Hour Episodic Television Series | American Society of Cinematographers |
| Decoding Annie Parker | Director / Writer | (Nominated) Leonardo's Horse - Best Directing | Milan International Film Festival | |
| (Nominated) Leonardo's Horse - Best Screenwriting (Shared with Adam Bernstein and Mike Moss) |
References
edit- ^ "STEVEN BERNSTEIN". www.cinematographers.nl. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
- ^ "Tokyo International Film Festival (1992)". IMDb. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
- ^ "Night Lighting - Part 1 - Tackling Large Night Exteriors".
- ^ "Night Lighting - Part 2 - Lighting the City at Night". Sony Cine. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
- ^ "Making the Jump to Shooting Big Films - Big Scale and Spectacle - Part 1".
- ^ "The Relationship Between the Director and the Cinematographer - Part 5 of a Series -- Collaboration on Set and During Post".
- ^ "A Film Director's View of the Cinematographer – Part 1 - the Director's Agony".
- ^ "How to write a screenplay | Adobe".
- ^ "Green screen video shooting techniques | Adobe".
- ^ "Special effects (SFX) and visual effects (VFX) | Adobe".
- ^ "Steven Bernstein". IMDb. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
- ^ "Last Call". IMDb. 25 November 2020.
- ^ "A Perfect Place - IMDbPro". pro-labs.imdb.com. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
- ^ "Angela and Althea - IMDbPro". pro-labs.imdb.com. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
- ^ "Last Resort - IMDbPro". pro-labs.imdb.com. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
- ^ "High taxes, red tape put off foreign filmmakers from shooting in Greece, Stratos Karakasidis | Kathimerini".
- ^ "Syros is set to become a location for shooting movies, Ioanna Fotiadi | Kathimerini".
- ^ "Greece Launches New 25% Cash Rebate to Lure Productions". 2018-05-11.
- ^ "ASC Close-Up: Steven Bernstein - the American Society of Cinematographers".
- ^ "Bernstein on 'Decoding Annie Parker' - The American Society of Cinematographers". ascmag.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-27.
- ^ "One Night with O'Toole, Hollywood's Straight Man". 3 February 2007.
- ^ "MANCODE | Adventure Edition ( Issue 14)".
- ^ "Ο Steven Bernstein ονειρεύεται ένα νέο Hollywood στην Ελλάδα". 31 July 2018.
- ^ "Charles Bernstein M.D. Obituary (2008) Buffalo News". Legacy.com.
- ^ "U.S. Distributor K Street Pictures Boards Dylan Thomas Pic with Rhys Ifans & John Malkovich, Plans to Relaunch It in Market". 19 July 2019.
- ^ "Director Steven Bernstein and Carolyn Rodney arrive at the Seattle".