Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Cinematography

The competition: Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki), The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert Yeoman), Ida (Łukasz Żal and Ryszard Lenczewski), Mr. Turner (Dick Pope), Unbroken (Roger Deakins)

Previous winners: Gravity, Life of Pi, Hugo, Inception, Avatar, Slumdog Millionaire, There Will Be Blood
My winner: Announcing shortly after the Oscars!
The facts: Lubezki won his first prize last year for “Gravity” and was nominated five times before that. This is the twelfth nomination for Deakins, who has yet to win. Pope was nominated once before, in 2006. While Best Picture nominees have won this award in recent years, it’s not a requirement. A black-and-white film has not won this prize in a long time, but foreign films win regularly. Only “Ida” is not nominated for an ASC Award – “The Imitation Game” is in its place – and those will be handed out on February 15th.

Who should win: “Birdman”
Who will win: It wouldn’t be entirely fitting, but I feel like Deakins is poised to win his first Oscar for Unbroken over the rapid movements of “Birdman” and the gorgeous colors of “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”