Steven Bernstein (filmmaker)

Steven Bernstein
Born
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
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]

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]

  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.