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MillimeterSMPTE To Honor James MacKay For Outstanding Educational Initiatives
Nov 2, 2005 4:41 PM
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (www.smpte.org) will present the 2005 Eastman Kodak Gold Medal Award to James F. MacKay during the organization's annual technical conference at the Hilton Hotel in New York City on November 10. The annual award recognizes individuals who have made exemplary contributions to enhancing the education of students at film schools around the world.
"During his tenure at Kodak, Jim MacKay established one of the most comprehensive student programs in the industry and elevated it to many levels in support of educators and the next generation of filmmakers," says SMPTE President Edward Hobson, who will present the award.
MacKay founded the Kodak Worldwide Student Program in 1990 and managed its activities until he retired in 1998. MacKay launched the student program by organizing three Advisory Councils consisting of film school chairs and deans in the United States and Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Each of those councils recommended various initiatives that were embraced and implemented by Kodak under MacKay's leadership.
The initial program also established a $300,000 endowment fund to provide annual tuition scholarships to deserving students in the United States and Canada in perpetuity. The scholarships are administered by the University Film and Video Association. For the past seven years, MacKay served as CFO of the University Film and Video Foundation (UFVF) managing the funding for the Eastman Scholarship Program. He recently retired from that position this past August but remains on the UFVF Board of Trustees.
Kodak also initiated product grants and discount programs that have enabled hundreds of students to explore the possibilities of visual story-telling with state-of-the-art film media. MacKay launched various other Kodak initiatives, including sponsoring the creation and distribution of instructional materials, visiting artists, internship programs and a PBS television series that showcases emerging filmmakers from around the world. THE SHORT LIST has been awarded four regional Emmys(R) over the past 12 years. He also pioneered the company's sponsorship of student showcases at Cannes and other film festivals in the United States and worldwide.
"Jim MacKay deserves this recognition for both his vision and achievements in launching and managing our programs for supporting film schools and their students around the world," says Eric Rodli, president of Kodak's Entertainment Imaging Division. "We are proud of him, and remain steadfastly committed to the student initiatives that he created."
MacKay is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University. He began working as a messenger at Kodak Park while attending college. He did graduate work at the University of Rochester. MacKay joined what is now called the Entertainment Imaging Division of Kodak in 1965. Columbia College, in Hollywood, presented an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters to MacKay in 1993 in recognition of his worldwide educational initiatives.
Previous recipients of the SMPTE Eastman Kodak Gold Medal Award include George Spiro Dibie, ASC, Woody Omens, ASC, Raymond Fielding, Arthur Knight, Jay Leyda, Herbert Farmer, Robert Wagner and John Flory.
"I am humbled and thrilled by this honor, because it acknowledges the importance of investing in the next generation of filmmakers," MacKay says. "Visual communications is unique in its power. Movies do move people. They educate, train, motivate, inform as well as entertain people. I'm proud to have been able to help support that."
The Kodak Student Filmmaker Program is currently managed by Colette Scott. For more information visit the Kodak website at www.kodak.com/go/student.
The SMPTE Technical Conference and Exhibition will be held November 9 - 12. For more information, visit www.smpte.org
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