Steven Bernstein (filmmaker)

Last updated
Steven Bernstein
Born
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Cinematographer
Years active1986–present

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]

Contents

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]

Bernstein co-hosts the weekly podcast, Film Maker And Fan's Podcast with Vince Grimes, Executive Producer and the former head of creative at Google. [24]

Personal life

Bernstein was born in Buffalo, NY in 1958 to parents Charles Bernstein, M.D. and Sylvia Bernstein. [25] 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. [26] [27]

Filmography

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerNotes
1992No Head for HeightsYesNoNoTV short; Co-directed with Nicholas Wright
2013 Decoding Annie Parker YesYesYesAlso wrote the song "Falling Out of View"
2015 Dominion YesYesYes
TBAGRQ the MovieYesYesYes

Cinematographer

Film

YearTitleDirectorNotes
1986Smart Alec Jim Wilson With John Huneck
The Passion of RemembranceMaureen Blackwood
Isaac Julien
With Nina Kellgren
1989Conspiracy Chris Bernard
1992 Like Water for Chocolate Alfonso Arau With Emmanuel Lubezki
1995 Moondance Dagmar Hirtz
Kicking and Screaming Noah Baumbach
1996 Underworld Roger Christian
Bulletproof Ernest Dickerson
Curdled Reb Braddock
1997 Murder at 1600 Dwight H. Little
Mr. Jealousy Noah Baumbach
Highball
1998 Half Baked Tamra Davis
The Waterboy Frank Coraci
1999 The Wood Rick Famuyiwa
2000More Dogs Than BonesMichael Browning
Goodbye Casanova Mauro Borrelli
2001 Christmas in the Clouds Kate Montgomery
The Forsaken J. S. Cardone
Scary Movie 2 Keenen Ivory Wayans
Corky Romano Rob Pritts
2003 Monster Patty Jenkins
2004 White Chicks Keenen Ivory Wayans
2006Behind the Smile Damon Wayans
Little Man Keenen Ivory Wayans
One Night with the King Michael O. Sajbel
2007 Tortured Nolan LebovitzDirect-to-video
2009 Not Forgotten Dror Soref
Love at First HiccupBarbara Topsøe-Rothenborg
2020 Walkaway Joe Tom Wright

Short film

YearTitleDirector
1988JadeJonathan Hourigan
1992Life's a Gas Phil Davis
2007Crawl Space Michael Tiddes
2013TandemMatthew Douglas Helfgott
Jared Hillman

Television

YearTitleDirectorNotes
19914 Play Phil Davis
Norman Hull
Episodes "Deptford Graffiti" and "Work!"
The Diamond Brothers Anthony Horowitz Miniseries
1992No Head for HeightsHimself
Nicholas Wright
TV short
1995 The Monroes Rick Wallace
Vern Gillum
Michael Nankin
Michael W. Watkins
James Quinn
5 episodes
2000 Opposite Sex Randy Zisk
Danny Leiner
Kenneth Fink
4 episodes
2005 Threshold David S. Goyer Episode "Trees Made of Glass: Part 1"
2006 The Jake Effect Marc Buckland
Kevin Dowling
Rodman Flender
6 episodes
2013 Magic City Terrence O'Hara
Simon Cellan Jones
David Petrarca
3 episodes

TV movies

YearTitleDirector
1995 The Secretary Andrew Lane
1996Trade-Off
1998Bad Cop, Bad Cop Jon Favreau
1999Smog
2002Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie Ernest Dickerson
Couples Marc Buckland
2011Last Man StandingErnest Dickerson

Other credits

First assistant director

2nd unit director

YearTitleNote
2013 Magic City Episode "The Sins of the Father"

Acting roles

YearTitleRole
2006Behind the SmileBritish Reporter
One Night with the King Father of Esther
2009Love at First HiccupCo-Host Cooking Show (Voice role)

Awards

YearFilmPositionAwardOrganization
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 TechnologyHampton'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 DirectingMilan International Film Festival
(Nominated) Leonardo's Horse - Best Screenwriting (Shared with Adam Bernstein and Mike Moss)

References

  1. "STEVEN BERNSTEIN". www.cinematographers.nl. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  2. "Tokyo International Film Festival (1992)". IMDb . Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  3. "Night Lighting - Part 1 - Tackling Large Night Exteriors".
  4. "Night Lighting - Part 2 - Lighting the City at Night". Sony Cine. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  5. "Making the Jump to Shooting Big Films - Big Scale and Spectacle - Part 1".
  6. "The Relationship Between the Director and the Cinematographer - Part 5 of a Series -- Collaboration on Set and During Post".
  7. "A Film Director's View of the Cinematographer – Part 1 - the Director's Agony".
  8. "How to write a screenplay | Adobe".
  9. "Green screen video shooting techniques | Adobe".
  10. "Special effects (SFX) and visual effects (VFX) | Adobe".
  11. "Steven Bernstein". IMDb. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  12. "Last Call". IMDb . 25 November 2020.
  13. "A Perfect Place - IMDbPro". pro-labs.imdb.com. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  14. "Angela and Althea - IMDbPro". pro-labs.imdb.com. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  15. "Last Resort - IMDbPro". pro-labs.imdb.com. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  16. "High taxes, red tape put off foreign filmmakers from shooting in Greece, Stratos Karakasidis | Kathimerini".
  17. "Syros is set to become a location for shooting movies, Ioanna Fotiadi | Kathimerini".
  18. "Greece Launches New 25% Cash Rebate to Lure Productions". 2018-05-11.
  19. "ASC Close-Up: Steven Bernstein - the American Society of Cinematographers".
  20. "Bernstein on 'Decoding Annie Parker' - The American Society of Cinematographers". ascmag.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-27.
  21. "One Night with O'Toole, Hollywood's Straight Man". 3 February 2007.
  22. "MANCODE | Adventure Edition ( Issue 14)".
  23. "Ο Steven Bernstein ονειρεύεται ένα νέο Hollywood στην Ελλάδα". 31 July 2018.
  24. filmmakerandfans.com https://filmmakerandfans.com.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. "Charles Bernstein M.D. Obituary (2008) Buffalo News". Legacy.com .
  26. "U.S. Distributor K Street Pictures Boards Dylan Thomas Pic with Rhys Ifans & John Malkovich, Plans to Relaunch It in Market". 19 July 2019.
  27. "Director Steven Bernstein and Carolyn Rodney arrive at the Seattle".