If you need more proof that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is insane, look no further than Roger Deakins.  Deakins is one of the greatest cinematographers of all-time, and before this year, he had racked up nine Oscar nominations without ever taking home the statue.  He picked up his tenth nomination this year for Skyfall, and tonight he won the Feature Film Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.  It was his third award from the ASC after having won in 1995 for The Shawkshank Redemption and in 2002 for The Man Who Wasn’t There.  He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC in 2011.  Oscar prognosticators are still putting Life of Pi as the favorite to win Best Cinematography, but perhaps tenth time will be the charm for Deakins.

Hit the jump for the press release.  The 85th Academy Awards will be held on February 24th at 7pm EST on ABC.

Today, the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) announced their nominees for Best Cinematography of 2011.  Nominations went to Guillaume Schiffman, (The Artist), Jeff Cronenweth (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Robert Richardson (Hugo), Hoyte van Hoytema (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), and Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life).  The most notable snub is leaving out Janusz Kaminski for War Horse, and it looks like Steven Spielberg‘s movie is just about finished in the Oscar race after having also missed nominations from the Directors Guild and Writers Guild.  I would also say the ASC snubbed Roger Deakins for Rango, but I never really expected them to be open-minded enough to acknowledge an animated movie for Best Cinematography.

The ASC winner will be announced February 12th.  The ASC victor usually lines up with the Oscar winner. [Correction: /Film's Russ Fischer informs me that Kaminski couldn't have been nominated because he resigned from the society years ago.]

Inception cinematographer Wally Pfister won the American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Award in the feature film category.  It was Pfister’s first win from the ASC.  He had previously been nominated for The Dark Knight and Batman Begins.  This year’s other nominees included Matthew Libatique (Black Swan), Danny Cohen (The King’s Speech), Jeff Cronenweth (The Social Network), and Roger Deakins (True Grit).  All five of these men have also been nominated for the Oscar for Best Cinematography and it’s tough to argue that they don’t deserve it.

While Pfister’s win from the ASC may give him a slight edge in the Oscar race, I still think this is going to be Deakins’ year.  It’s his ninth nomination and I think/hope that the Academy will finally give him his due.  However, if Pfister takes home the statue, you won’t hear me complaining.