‘Society Of The Snow’, ‘The Last Of Us’ Top Winners At Society Of Camera Operators’ SOC Awards

The teams from Netflix’s Oscar-nominated Society of the Snow and HBO’s The Last of Us won Camera Operator of the Year honors at the Society of Camera Operators‘ 2024 SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards.

The awards were bestowed Saturday night at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles.

Juanjo Sánchez, SOC, with Manuel Branáa, Operator de Cámara “B”, won the film award for Society of the Snow, which is up for Best International Feature and Best Makeup and Hair Styling at next month’s Oscars. The J.A. Bayona-directed film tells the true story of the aftermath of a 1972 crash deep in the Andes Mountains of a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and how 16 of them managed to survive.

Sánchez and Branáa won in a category that included operators from the movies Leave the World Behind, Chevalier, Boston Strangler and Carmen.

On the TV side, Neal Bryant, SOC, with Carey Toner, Camera Operator, won for The Last of Us Season 1 episode “Long, Long Time,” the critically acclaimed segment featuring the heart-wrenching backstory of Bill and his partner Frank, played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, respectively. The roles landed both actors Emmy nominations, and earned Offerman the win last month).

The duo topped fellow TV nominees from Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Barry, Fargo and The Bear.

The SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards, given in recognition of outstanding achievement by an established person within the field of film and video production, were also handed out tonight to this year’s honorees Larry McConkey, SOC (Camera Operator), Dave Hilmer (Camera Operator, Broadcast & Live), Mande Whitaker, SOC (Camera Operator, Unscripted), Patrick McArdle (Camera Technician), Rick Marroquin (Mobile Camera Platform Operator) and Claudette Barius (Still Photographer).

Below are this year’s winners:

Camera Operator of the Year – Film

Juanjo Sánchez, SOC, with Manuel Branáa, Operator de Cámara B

Society of the Snow

Camera Operator of the Year – Television

Neal Bryant, SOC, with Carey Toner, Camera Operator

The Last of Us, S1E3 “Long, Long Time”