Academy Award Nomination

Matthew Libatique always had a dream.

Not about making it big in the movies. Libatique actually wanted to be a baseball player.

“I wanted to go to Cal State Fullerton because I had a dream of walking on as a baseball player for Augie Garrido (the former Titan coach who led the team to multiple national titles),” he said. “Obviously, that never happened.”

What DID happen was that Libatique began studying film making. And now, he has been nominated for an Academy Award for best cinematography for “Black Swan.”

“I studied film at Fullerton and was part of the film club,” said the 1992 communications graduate. “I tried to hang out with as many filmmaker-type people as possible but, at that time, the focus of the communications curriculum was mostly on broadcast. The people I hung out with were looking at careers in broadcasting. So I didn’t have many connections with people who had their eyes on cinema. I never thought about it.”

Until, that is, he met Larry Ward, professor of radio-TV-film, who talked about cinema.

“There was something about Larry that made me feel connected and closer to being a filmmaker,” Libatique said. “I didn’t really even know I wanted to be a cinematographer until I had almost completed my education at Cal State Fullerton. Larry was the only person back then who talked about cinema.”

“I remember Matt very well,” recalls Ward. “He was an outstanding student and showed exceptional camera ability even in his early assignments. I remember commenting on his ‘great eye’ in the very first production class he took with me.”

After graduating in 1992, Libatique went on to graduate school at the American Film Institute where he studied cinematography. AFI also is where he began collaborating with Darren Aronofsky. With Aronofsky directing and Libatique serving as cinematographer, the two collaborated on such films as “Pi,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Fountain” and most recently, “Black Swan.”

Another director who noticed and admired Libatique’s work was Spike Lee. Libatique would go on to work with the famed director on such works as “She Hate Me,” “Inside Man” and “The Miracle at St. Anna.”

Over the years, Libatique had the opportunity to work on “big budget action films” with director Jon Favreau (“Iron Man” 1 & 2 and the upcoming “Cowboys and Aliens”), and is currently in preproduction with Aronofsky on “The Wolverine.”

Although Libatique has won other awards for his work, this is his first Academy Award nomination.

“I feel like I’ve reached a goal that I’ve had for a long time in my career,” he said. “I’m extremely happy. I’m elated. It’s especially satisfying because when we were making the film, I never had it in my mind that we were trying to make a film that would be Academy worthy. To receive this recognition is astounding.”

“I knew Matt was destined for an exceptional career when he was accepted into the AFI program and, more significantly, was invited back for a second year,” said Ward. “The AFI is the most difficult film program to gain acceptance into in the country. By the time he graduated, he was working on music videos professionally. His work with Aronofsky established him as a rising cinematographer and he just kept building his career from that point on.

“When you have a person with his ability and his drive, you almost always have a successful person. Matt knew what he wanted and found his own way to get it.”

Feb. 22, 2011