Patrizia Von Brandenstein To Receive Art Directors Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Oscar-winning Amadeus production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein will receive the Art Directors Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 20th annual awards ceremony on January 31 at the Beverly Hilton.

“Patrizia von Brandenstein’s work as a Production Designer is vast and extraordinary, and we are proud to rank her among the best in the history of our profession,” said Marcia Hinds, ADG Council Chair. “She has forged the path for many future women, finding success in a predominately male profession. Patrizia is an accomplished, talented and versatile artist and it is our honor to name her as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.”

Von Brandenstein began her film career in 1972 as a Set Decorator on The Candidate and subsequently worked as a Costume Designer on both Between The Lines and Saturday Night Fever.

Teaming with husband and fellow Production Designer Stuart Wurtzel on Hester Street, von Brandenstein moved into art direction. She was an Art Director for films including comedy drama Breaking Away and Milos Forman’’s Ragtime, for which she shared an Oscar nomination as Art Director. In 1985, von Brandenstein won the Oscar for Amadeus, and two years later received her third Oscar nom for Brian De Palma’’s The Untouchables. Other notable projects include Heartland, Silkwood, Working Girl , Postcards From The Edge, teen musical Beat Street, drama Six Degrees Of Separation and western The Quick And The Dead.

Her additional production credits include A Chorus Line, Billy Bathgate, Sneakers, Leap Of Faith, Just Cause, The People Vs. Larry Flynt and Mercury Rising, as well as A Simple Plan, Man On The Moon, Shaft, The Ice Harvest, All The King’s Men, The Money Pit and Goya’s Ghosts. Von Brandenstein also worked on the historical drama The Last Station, directed by Michael Hoffman, for whom she designed The Emperor’s Club in 2002. Most recently, she designed the acclaimed Irish drama Albert Nobbs starring Glenn Close and Janet McTeer, and Phil Spector, starring Helen Mirren and Al Pacino.

This December she will design the sets and costumes for the Broadway production of The Anarchist, written and directed by David Mamet.