Song Lang, the highly lauded Vietnamese feature film, picked up two major prizes at the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) Awards—Best Feature Film and 2019 Cinematographer of the Year—adding two more major awards to the growing list of accolades for New York Film Academy (NYFA) MFA Cinematography Alum Bob Nguyen.
The film was shot by Nguyen, directed by Leon Le, and co-written by Le and Minh Ngoc Nguyen. It tells the story of an underground debt collector and a “reformed theatre” opera performer (known in Vietnam as cải lương) who form an unlikely bond in 1990s Saigon.
Nguyen enrolled at New York Film Academy’s Burbank-based campus in January 2013, where he earned his MFA and quickly networked with other students and served as director of photography on several short films. Using this network after graduation, Nguyen continued to find work around the world, including Italy, Australia, and Vietnam.
For his work on the feature film Sut, Nguyen won the 2016 Golden Kite Award for Best Cinematography, the highest award for cinema in Vietnam, equivalent to an Academy Award.
The Australian Cinematographers Society Awards are the highest honors for cinematography in Australia. The ACS was established in Sydney in 1958 to further the advancement of cinematography in all fields and to keep its members informed about new camera and lighting equipment and technology as well as provide a forum—through meetings, demos, and seminars, etc.—for its members to exchange ideas and network.
“It is a major honor to be named Cinematographer of the Year by the Australian Cinematographers Society, and it is impressive that Bob has received this award so early in his career,” says Mike Williamson, NYFA-Los Angeles Associate Chair of Cinematography. “The ACS is a prestigious organization that counts many great cinematographers among its ranks, and it’s a significant achievement to receive this level of recognition from his peers.”
New York Film Academy congratulates MFA Cinematography Alum Bob Nguyen on winning the Best Feature Film and 2019 Cinematographer of the Year ACS Awards and looks forward to seeing what he works on next!