Cinematographer Giorgi Shvelidze becomes member of American Motion Picture Academy

Award-winning cinematographer Giorgi Shvelidze has joined Oscar-winning actor Lady Gaga and director Christopher Miller in becoming part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a major professional guild of cinema creatives.

The Georgian was revealed among 842 new members of the American academy, promoted as “world's preeminent movie related organisation”, as the latest round of individuals were picked to bolster its ranks.

Selected from 59 countries and with half of them women, the group involves professionals from a wide range of activities, with producers, screenwriters and designers among those admitted as new entrants.

Shvelidze joins the academy following his work on the feature ‘Namme’, for which he received the Spotlight Award of the American Society of Cinematographers:

Shvelidze — who was honoured with the American Society of Cinematographers Spotlight Award in February for his work on the 2017 feature Namme by Zaza Khalvashi — also joins Georgian filmmakers Zaza Urushadze and Nana Jorjadze in the academy.

Urushadze was invited in 2015 following the success of his Oscar-nominated feature Tangerines, while Jorjadze’s inclusion in the guild took place on the back of her prolific cinema work, distinguished in Europe and the United States.

Before his contribution to Namme, Shvelidze also worked on Urushadze’s feature The Confession and on camera for the 2011 work 5 Days of War by Renny Harlin.

With around 8,000 members, the 1927-founded Motion Picture Academy is dedicated to “recognising and upholding” excellence in cinema field.

It’s also the organisation behind the Academy Awards, holds its own Governors Awards for distinguishing cinema professionals and grants fellowships in screenwriting.