{"id":169655,"date":"2026-10-16T09:15:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=169655"},"modified":"2026-10-16T09:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:15:47","slug":"wright-state-alumna-and-faculty-member-amy-faust-receives-emerging-cinematographer-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2026\/10\/16\/wright-state-alumna-and-faculty-member-amy-faust-receives-emerging-cinematographer-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State alumna and faculty member Amy Faust receives Emerging Cinematographer Award"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

Amy Faust ’10 received the 2026 Emerging Cinematographer Award for her work on the short film “Photography.” (Photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

Amy Faust, a 2010 graduate and current instructor in Wright State University\u2019s motion pictures<\/a> program, has received the 2026 Emerging Cinematographer Award from the International Cinematographers Guild for her work on the short film \u201cPhotography.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faust served as cinematographer on \u201cPhotography,\u201d directed and co-written by fellow Wright State alumnus Adam White \u201995.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s significant about the award for me is that it comes from a cohort of people that I truly admire,\u201d said Faust, who was one of seven recipients honored at a ceremony at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles on Oct. 2.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve entered for that award a couple of times,\u201d said Faust. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have the recognition come to me for \u2018Photography,\u2019 something that we had such a beautiful time making.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Set against the backdrop of 1964 Manhattan, \u201cPhotography\u201d is loosely based on famed LIFE magazine photographer Margaret Bourke White. The story centers on two female magazine photographers and whether the older and more experienced professional will decide to mentor the younger one.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The story to me is really personal,\u201d said Faust, \u201cbecause it\u2019s about lifting each other up and it\u2019s about when do you turn around and lend that hand down.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faust is gratified by the overwhelmingly positive response from audiences to the relationship between the two female protagonists and the overarching theme of mentoring throughout the film.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a comment on society today that this small, light, fun story about helping each other resonates,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause of the kind of world we\u2019re in, we\u2019re not seeing as much of that.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a Wright State student, Faust found her own mentor in the late Wright State professor and award-winning documentarian Julia Reichert.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m teaching, I hear her talking. I can hear myself saying things to the students that she said to me,\u201d said Faust. \u201cI know she is proud of what we are building here in the Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faust knows that her late mother, Maria Deluca Cunningham, who passed away nearly 10 years ago, would be proud of all that she has accomplished so far.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was married when she was 19 and didn\u2019t get to do a lot outside of the home. She eventually became a real estate agent, but she always talked about how she felt like she never got a chance to be who she wanted to be,\u201d Faust recalled. \u201cWhen I started doing this work, she said, \u2018I really admire how brave you are to make that choice to go off and do this thing.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nine<\/a>

As one of three female cinematographers selected for this year’s award, Faust hopes to inspire the next generation of young women pursuing careers in the film industry. (Photos provided by Amy Faust)<\/p><\/div>\n

Faust is one of three female cinematographers selected for this year\u2019s Emerging Cinematographer Awards. As someone who is teaching the next generation of filmmakers, she hopes to show her students \u2014 especially the young women \u2014 that a career in the film industry is possible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to bring that message forward to our students that \u2018you can do this. I\u2019m a woman in the industry.\u2019 I think it\u2019s helpful to show them that it\u2019s accessible,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faust also advocates for representation outside of the classroom. She serves on the board of the International Cinematographers Guild, her union, and she chairs two committees, the Health and Welfare Committee and the Central Region Women\u2019s Committee.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of those are really dedicated toward lifting up underserved populations in our industry, because it\u2019s certainly not the most diverse industry,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faust also teaches the importance of work-life balance to her students. As the mother of three children, including two children under 7, she understands the delicate balancing act of juggling work and family responsibilities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEarly motherhood is difficult, so it was a lot of steps back. \u2018Photography\u2019 is the first thing that I had shot in six or seven years as a cinematographer,\u201d she said. \u201cThis film was very difficult for me to do. It was in my first year of teaching at Wright State. And I was living in a different city than where we were filming the movie.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Faust was able to bring her vision to life and help create a film that she can show to her own children one day.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will mean a lot, especially for my daughter, Genevieve Maria Faust, to hear the story and be able to see it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt makes me feel really proud, especially at my age, to be able to show that you can still do new things and you can still be evolving in your career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faust’s accomplishment shows her students, especially those from underserved populations, that a career in the film industry is possible. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":169862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,724,2023,711,4859,725,747,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-awards","category-faculty","category-faculty-staff","category-fine-and-performing-arts","category-home-news-sidebar","category-liberal-arts","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169655"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169872,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169655\/revisions\/169872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}