American Cinematographer - September 2004 - 123

shooting features in Mexico. In 1992,
he won an Ariel, Mexico's equivalent to
the Academy Award, for his work on La
Leyenda de una Mascara. That same
year, he and several of his colleagues
founded the Mexican Society of Cine¬
matographers (AMC) with help and
guidance from Harry Wolf, ASC.
Hofmann has taught in film
schools in Mexico City, and in 1999 he
moved to Los Angeles to explore new
professional opportunities. Since then,
he has photographed
numerous

NEW ASC MEMBER

born and raised in Mexico

had

a

City and

childhood rich in the visual arts.

His father was

sculptor and his mother
stained-glass artist. One of
Hofmann's earliest inspirations came
from a trip to The Opera House; the 7year-old was captivated by the vivid sets
and how the changing colored lights
transformed the atmosphere. A few
years later, his father handed him a
was

a

a

Kodak Brownie 8mm camera, and the

11-year-old used it to capture images of
everyday life.
At age 18, he attended the Film
School at Mexico City University. His
documentary thesis, The Circus, earned
a

student film

festival in Warsaw, Poland.

Upon gradu¬

the

remote

regions of Mexico. After this stint, he
Bajo el Mismo

shot his first feature film,

Sol.

Hofmann spent the next 17 years
110

September 2004

at the Norris Theatre on campus.

son,

Mike Mimaki,

The

motion-picture
technical manager at Fuji Photo Film
U.S.A., has come aboard as an ASC
associate member. Mimaki joined Fuji
upon graduating from the Tokyo Insti¬
tute of Polytechnics College with a
master's degree in photographic engi¬
neering in 1988, and has since been
involved in the development of Fujicolor
negative and positive motion-picture
films. He is

a

member of SMPTE and

joined Fuji's U.S. division in 2002.

cinematographer Conrad W. Hall.
screenings included some of Hall's
student films, clips from several of his
professional credits, and rare footage of
him teaching at the university.
ASC HITS THE LINKS

The ASC's annual

summer

golf

tournament drew raves from the event's

participants. The friendly competition
was

held at the Brookside Golf Course

in Pasadena. Winners

were as

follows:

ASC Members Low Net: Billy Dickson,
ASC (73.5); ASC Members Low Gross:

INTO DODGE

Frank Johnson, ASC (79). Associate
Members Low Net: Mike Morelli (71.5);

Bill Dill, ASC has

Associate Members Low Gross: Joe

DILL GETS THE HECK

graduate degrees in film and television
production, screenwriting, public rela¬
tions and advertising, film studies, and
television/broadcast journalism; and
graduate degrees in film production,
producing, screenwriting and film stud¬
ies. The school's digital post facilities
are open 24 hours a day, and students
have access to equipment beginning
with their first class. Dill previously

in

anniversary this
it is honoring its alumni with a
screening series focused on their work.
The late cinematographer Conrad L
Hall, ASC was honored in May with
screenings and a panel discussion held

ASC, director Steve Zaillian, and Hall's

Film and Television, which offers under¬

communities found

sion celebrates its 75th

year,

NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBER

studies. In 1976, he began four years of
work with directors, producers and
on The Ethnic Commu¬
nities Archives, a collection of 45 docu¬
mentaries about the
indigenous

University of Southern

California's School of Cinema-Televi¬

John Toll, ASC and Haskell Wexler,

Filmhochschule in Berlin to further his

anthropologists

HALL CELEBRATION
As the

Fancy and John Carpenter's Vampires.

ating in 1974, Hofmann transferred to

honorable mention at

Institute.

Hosted by USC alumnus and
faculty member Woody Omens, ASC,
the panel featured cinematographers

joined the
faculty of the Dodge College of Film and
Media Arts at the Chapman School of

an

department chair of
cinematography at the American Film
as

commercials, the telefilm The Warden
of Bed Flock, the TV series Besurrection
Boulevard, and the features The Time
of Fler Time, Ground Control, Flight of
Henner Hofmann, ASC, AMC
was

served

Ball (77). Guests Low Net: Jim Venetos
(69); Guests Low Gross: Colin Hodgson
(72). Ladies Low Net: Susan Pollard
(75.5); Ladies Low Gross: Sandra Kurotobi (106).
■
American Cinematographer - September 2004

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2004
