SMPTE Honoured With AMPAS Award

SMPTE has announced that it has received a Special Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

AMPAS presented the Special Award plaque to SMPTE at the Academy's annual Scientific and Technical Awards presentation, on 13 February.

The award citation reads: "For one hundred years, the Society's members have nurtured technology, provided essential standards, and offered the expertise, support, tools and infrastructure for the creation and post-production of motion pictures."

Robert Seidel, SMPTE President and Barbara Lange, the Society's executive director, accepted the award.

In her acceptance speech, Lange said: "On behalf of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, I thank the Academy for this prestigious recognition.

"One hundred years ago, this organization was founded to support the motion picture industry, helping bring order to the technical chaos of the day. As our founder, C. Francis Jenkins, said in 1916, 'Engineers secure the best standards for equipment, quality, performance, and nomenclature, an entirely practical and attainable ideal.

"From determining the size and position of perforations in film to today's work in areas such as high dynamic range in digital cinema, SMPTE's work enables the motion picture industry to thrive the world over.

"I am proud and honored to be accepting this award on behalf of SMPTE's 7,000 talented members and volunteers. It is the collective invention, enthusiasm, and dedication of all these individuals, past, present, and future, that help make technical innovation possible. Here's to the next century!"

This is SMPTE's third award from the Academy. The first was an Oscar statuette presented by Bette Davis to the Society's president, Barton Kreuzer, in 1957 in recognition of SMPTE's first 40 years of "contributions to the advancement of the motion picture industry."

In 1989, SMPTE received an Award of Commendation for the contributions of the members of SMPTE engineering committees. The citation reads, "by establishing standards, they have greatly contributed to making film a primary form of international communication."

A video of SMPTE's award presentation is available to view here.

Portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation will be included in ABC's Oscar telecast on Sunday, 28 February at 7p.m. EST, live from the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.

Image: Barbara Lange (left) and Robert Seidel during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards on February 13, 2016, in Beverly Hills, California. Photo Credit: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.

www.smpte.org

(JP/MH)