CineGear Expo honors George Dibbi, seminal prime-time TV cinematographer, with Lifetime Award
Channel: NewsCraft
Date: 2019-06-04

http://DemoCastMedia.com  George Dibie, the veteran director of photography, longtime union president and current education advocate was recognized June 1, 2019for his enduring enthusiasm and dedication at Paramount Studios. 

The Cine Gear Expo 2019 Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to George Spiro Dibie, ASC in recognition of the significant contributions he has made to advancing the art and craft of cinematography. The presentation will take place on Friday, May 31 at the VIP Industry Awards Reception at The Paramount Theater Paseo Grounds.

“Dibie broke all the rules because he understood that there can be drama in comedy, and comedy in drama,” said Russ Alsobrook, chairman of the ASC Award Committee in 2008 when the cinematographer was honored with the American Society of Cinematographers’ Career Achievement in Television Award. 

“He ignored the broadcast engineers’ mandate to make all multi-camera shows look bright. George knew how to photograph beautiful actresses, but he didn’t hesitate to use darkness and create gritty images when that was the right visual grammar.”

Using that creative strategy, Dibie earned five Emmy Awards and seven additional nominations for multi-camera, episodic television series between 1985 and 1998. His award-winning programs were Mr. Belvedere (1985), Growing Pains (1987 and 1991), Just the Ten of Us (1990) and Sister, Sister (1995). The other nominations were for Night Court (1986 and 1988), Growing Pains (1992), Dudley (1993) and Sister, Sister (1996, 1997, and 1998). 

Dibie also worked on six television series that broke the magic 100-episode barrier, beginning with Barney Miller (1975-83). He also shot every Warner Bros. pilot for multi-camera series over a 10-year span, including My Sister Sam, Head of the Class, Murphy Brown, Driving Miss Daisy and The Trouble With Larry.

Over his career, Dibie compiled between 1,500 and 2,000 hours of situation-comedy credits on primetime television. He also shot more than 60 TV movies, including a number of programs for the long-running drama series The ABC Armchair Mysteries.

Dibie served as the National President of the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600 IATSE for 20 years. He is a member of the DGA, the TV Academy Cinematography Branch and serves on the Board of Governors of the American Society of Cinematographers and chairs the ASC’s Education & Public Outreach and Fundraising committees.