Film Training Manitoba’s Executive Director Adam Smoluk recently connected with legendary Cinematographer Don Burgess, ASC, at an informal film industry event. The meeting was requested by Smoluk to gather advice on training and skills development for the film industry.
Burgess is best known for his collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis and was nominated for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography for Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump (1994).
When discussing training strategies, Burgess imparted, “I’m a major proponent of budding film professionals going to film schools and taking on as much film training and learning as possible.” He then emphasized, “Film schools are important because it’s where students take risks and learn from mistakes.”
Burgess’ track record with Zemeckis is 10 films, including Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004) and Here (2024 film).
Other film projects he has worked on includes Spider-Man (2002), Enchanted (2007), The Book of Eli (2010), Source Code (2011), The Muppets (2011), 42 (2013), The conjuring 2 (2016), Aquaman (2018), and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023). In March 2024, Burgess received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.
“As a non-for-profit charity and workforce development organization, Film Training Manitoba seeks a wide range of film industry intel to provide leading programming for Manitoba’s world-class industry. We really appreciated sharing Burgess’s good advice.” Said Smoluk.
FTM is a non-for-profit charity and member of the Province of Manitoba’s Sector Council program funded through the Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources. FTM builds a highly skilled and adaptable film industry workforce to support the activities of Manitoba production companies. FTM collaborates and partners with members of the film industry to identify training needs to support workforce development.