December 16, 2008
Los Angeles – Directors Guild of America President Michael Apted and DGA Awards Chair Howard Storm today announced the recipients of four special DGA Awards recognizing lifetime career achievement and extraordinary contributions to the Guild.
- Film Critic/Author Roger Ebert will receive the DGA’s 2009 Honorary Life Member Award for recognition of outstanding creative achievement, or contribution to the Guild, or the profession of Directing.
- DGA Second Vice-President/Director William Brady will receive the 2009 Robert B. Aldrich Award for extraordinary service to the DGA and to its membership.
- DGA Board Member/Unit Production Manager Kim Kurumada will receive the 2009 Frank Capra Achievement Award, which is given to an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.
- DGA Assistant Secretary/Treasurer/Associate Director Scott Berger will receive the 2009 Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award for an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.
"From the blockbuster to the tiny independent film, Roger Ebert has devoted his career to sharing his love of film with generations of moviegoers," said Apted, regarding Honorary Life Member Roger Ebert. "In doing so, he's kept directors on their toes for more than 40 years. I am very pleased to welcome him as an Honorary Life Member of the DGA."
Apted added, "The three Special Guild Award honorees – Bill Brady, Kim Kurumada and Scott Berger – have left an indelible mark upon this organization through their leadership, negotiating prowess, and dedication to the needs of their fellow members, the Guild, and the industry. I could not be prouder of their accomplishments nor more appreciative of their service."
All four awards will be presented at the 61st Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 31, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Bios for each honoree below:
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert is being honored for more than 40 years of watching, reviewing and loving films and for infusing his reviews with honesty, humor and grace.
"It is a great honor to be chosen by those men and women who are the creators of the art form I love above all others," said Ebert.
The first film critic to have been honored with a Pulitzer Prize, Ebert began reviewing films for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967 after having begun his newspaper career as a sports writer. Nearly 10 years later, Ebert began co-hosting the television program that became the pivotal At The Movies With Siskel & Ebert together with his friend and fellow critic Gene Siskel. When Siskel passed away in 1999, Richard Roeper joined the show and the pair continued reviewing films for television audiences until this past summer.
Ebert’s reviews are syndicated in more than 200 newspapers. He is also the most-visited movie critic on the Internet and his website, www.rogerebert.com, was named the best film review site of the year by the Online Film Critics’ Society.
He has served as a lecturer on film at the University of Chicago Fine Arts Program since 1970. He is also an adjunct professor of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ebert is known for his sessions conducting shot-by-shot analysis of films at many institutions including the University of Colorado, the University of Hawaii, the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution and the Canadian Center for the Advanced Study of Film.
Ebert is the author of 17 books, including Scorsese by Ebert; Awake in the Dark; The Great Movies volumes I and II; 20 annual volumes of Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook; Your Movie Sucks; Two Weeks in the Midday Sun, a Cannes Notebook; 'I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie' and the Norton anthology Roger Ebert's Book of Film. Among his many other critic duties, Ebert has served as critic for WLS/ABC in Chicago from 1983-2003; as host of the ABC live pre-Academy Awards show; and as co-host of the IFC coverage of the Cannes Film Festival awards.
In addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, Ebert was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005; by the American Society of Cinematographers in 2003; and is the recipient of honorary doctorates from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Colorado and the American Film Institute. Ebert lives in Chicago with his wife, trial attorney Chaz Hammelsmith Ebert.
William M. Brady
A DGA member since 1976, Bill Brady was prompted to run for the National Board by President Gene Reynolds in the early 1990s and was later elected an Alternate Member. He served one term as Sixth Vice President (1999-2001) and two terms as Fourth Vice President (2001-2003; and 2005-2007) before he was elected the Guild’s Second Vice President in 2007. In addition, he serves on the Eastern Directors Council; the Internal Complaints Committee; the DGA Honors Committee; and has been a trustee of the DGA Foundation since 2005. But it is for his efforts as Network Negotiating Committee Chair in 2002, 2004 and 2008 that he is best known to his fellow Guild Members.
After graduating from Queens College in New York with a major in Mass Communications and minor in Theater and Economics, Brady worked a few jobs as a theatre technician before landing a job in the mailroom at CBS. Six months later, he became a production assistant at Channel Two for eight months until being promoted to Associate Director. A CBS News Director since 1981, over his years, Brady has helmed a myriad of shows including: Sunday Morning; The Saturday Early Show; The Early Show; Public Eye; 48 Hours; America Tonight; Street Stories; Eye to Eye; CBS Reports; 1989: A Year with Andy Rooney; and numerous other news broadcasts and specials including the reality special, Survivor: Countdown to Africa; the sports-oriented Sunday Morning Classics on ESPN; and Food TV’s The Next FTV Star 2007 Finale.
Kim Kurumada
First elected to the DGA National Board in 2003, Alan Kim Kurumada is currently in his third term in that capacity. He is a longtime member of the Western AD/UPM/TC Council, where he was first elected as an alternate member in 1999 and eventually served four terms as Council Chair. Kurumada’s Guild service also includes eight years on the AD/UPM/TC Residency Committee, a full decade on both the AD/UPM New Technology Committee and the AD/UPM/TC Mentor Committee, eleven years on the AD/UPM/TC Administrative Committee, fourteen years with the Council’s UPM Committee, and ten years on the DGA’s Asian American Committee, which he is pleased to have had a hand in founding. He has also served on the Guild’s Negotiations Committee.
A college photography class sparked Kurumada’s initial interest in the film industry and led to his enrollment at NYU Film School. He worked initially as a sound mixer and assistant cameraman on documentaries, then applied for and was accepted to the Assistant Director Training Program, eventually building up enough days to join the Guild as a 2nd AD. Over the years, Kurumada has worked with some of the best directors in the industry including Mel Brooks on Life Stinks, James Bridges on Urban Cowboy and The China Syndrome, John Carpenter on John Carpenter’s Vampires and Ghosts of Mars, John Herzfeld on 15 Minutes, Ted Kotcheff on Winter People, Barry Levinson on Tin Men, Herbert Ross on Undercover Blues, Alan Pakula on All the President’s Men and current DGA President Michael Apted on Continental Divide and Class Action.
Scott Berger
Currently in his eighth term on the AD/SM/PA East Council, Scott Berger was twice elected as Council Chair. In 2003, his Guild involvement went national when he was elected Assistant Secretary-Treasurer to work alongside Gil Cates, who serves as Secretary-Treasurer. In addition, he is also a member of the DGA Reality Television Committee and a trustee of the DGA Pension & Health Plans. He recently served as the Vice-Chair of the DGA’s Network Negotiating Committee.
Despite starting at NYU as a pre-med student, Berger found himself drawn into the world of mass communications after landing a job as a page at CBS. His next step forward came when Berger volunteered to work as a Stage Manager one holiday season, and ended up with a permanent position. Stage Managing paved the way for a move into network broadcasts where, in addition to news, he worked on all kinds of sporting events including major league baseball, professional and NCAA football and basketball, the Stanley Cup hockey finals and the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, which he has worked on for 17 years. Berger currently works as an associate director on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
The five Feature Film nominees for the 61st Annual DGA Awards will be announced on Thursday, January 8, 2009. All Television, Commercials and Documentary nominees will be announced on Friday, January 9, 2009 in a 10 a.m. press conference at the Guild’s Los Angeles headquarters at 7920 West Sunset Boulevard.