The film nominees were announced on January 8, 2014. A three-way tie boosted the number of film nominees to seven. Sean Bobbitt, Philippe Le Sourd, and Phedon Papamichael received their first nominations in the film category (though Papamichael has received prior nominations for his TV work).
This year also marked the inaugural Spotlight Award "to recognize outstanding cinematography in features and documentaries typically screened at film festivals, internationally or in limited theatrical release".[3] The nominees were announced on January 14, 2014.
With his third win in the film cinematography category, Emmanuel Lubezki joined Roger Deakins and Conrad L. Hall as the only cinematographers to have won the award more than twice.