In order for a film to be consider and or nominated for an Academy Award the film must first reach these requirements.

1. The film must have been publicly exhibited for paid admission in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County for a qualifying run of at least seven consecutive days, during which period screenings must occur at least three times daily.
2. The film must be over 40 minutes in length.
3. The film must have been publicly exhibited in a commercial theater in 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.
4. The film must have been completed and submitted to the Academy within a specified deadline.
5. The film must comply with all other Academy rules and regulations.

Below is a list of the past winners and the film they shot.

2022: Greig Fraser – Dune

2021: Erik Messerschmidt – Mank

2020: Roger Deakins – 1917

2019: Alfonso Cuarón – Roma

2018: Roger Deakins – Blade Runner 2049

2017: Linus Sandgren – La La Land

2016: Emmanuel Lubezki – The Revenant

2015: Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

2014: Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity

2013: Claudio Miranda – Life of Pi

2012: Robert Richardson – Hugo

2011: Wally Pfister – Inception

2010: Mauro Fiore – Avatar

2009: Anthony Dod Mantle – Slumdog Millionaire

2008: Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood

2007: Guillermo Navarro – Pan’s Labyrinth

2006: Dion Beebe – Memoirs of a Geisha 2

005: Robert Richardson – The Aviator

2004: Russell Boyd – Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

2003: Conrad L. Hall – Road to Perdition

2002: Andrew Lesnie – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2001: Peter Pau – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

2000: John Seale – American Beauty

1999: Janusz Kaminski – Saving Private Ryan

1998: Russell Carpenter – Titanic

1997: John Toll – Braveheart

1996: John Seale – The English Patient

1995: Emmanuel Lubezki – A Little Princess

1994: John Toll – Legends of the Fall

1993: Philippe Rousselot – A River Runs Through It

1992: Robert Richardson – JFK

1991: Freddie Francis – Cape Fear

1990: Dean Semler – Dances with Wolves

1989: Peter Biziou – Mississippi Burning

1988: Vittorio Storaro – The Last Emperor

1987: Chris Menges – The Mission

1986: David Watkin – Out of Africa

1985: Chris Menges – The Killing Fields

1984: Sven Nykvist – Fanny and Alexander

1983: Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor – Gandhi

1982: Vittorio Storaro – Reds

1981: Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet – Tess

1980: Vittorio Storaro – Apocalypse Now

1979: Néstor Almendros – Days of Heaven

1978: Vilmos Zsigmond – Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1977: Haskell Wexler – Bound for Glory

1976: John Alcott – Barry Lyndon

1975: Fred J. Koenekamp and Joseph F. Biroc – The Towering Inferno

1974: Geoffrey Unsworth – Murder on the Orient Express

1973: Sven Nykvist – Cries and Whispers

1972: Oswald Morris – Fiddler on the Roof

1971: Freddie Young – Ryan’s Daughter

1970: Conrad L. Hall – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

1969: Pasqualino De Santis – Romeo and Juliet

1968: Burnett Guffey – Bonnie and Clyde

1967: Ted Moore – A Man for All Seasons

1966: Ernest Laszlo – Ship of Fools

1965: Freddie Young – Doctor Zhivago

1964: Walter Lassally – Zorba the Greek

1963: Jean Bourgoin and Walter