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Camerimage is the largest festival of cinematographers in the world but this year’s edition is as likely to be remembered for its controversies as anything.
Ahead of Camerimage 2024, all the talk leading into the show last week was about the festival director’s remarks that the work of female filmmakers was devaluing the craft.
The words of Marek Żydowicz, who founded the festival 32 years ago, were laid out in black and white in an opinion piece in which he argued that the movement to include works by women filmmakers had gone too far.
“Can we sacrifice works and artists with outstanding artistic achievements solely to make room for mediocre film productions?” he wrote.
Naturally, there was huge push back from those attending – with opening night honouree director Steve McQueen deciding to vote with his feet and stay home.
Cate Blanchett, who is jury chair of this year’s Camerimage main competition, said, “We’re all part of the conversation. We can’t walk away from it. We have to be part of the change.”
The optics weren’t good given that the festival had already decided to premiere the western Rust on which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot. Director Joel Souza, who was injured on the set, and Bianca Cline the DP who finished the film, were in attendance.
The film’s closing credits begin with the words ‘For Halyna’, followed by a question attributed to her ‘What can we do to make this better?’
That controversy was separate to the wider diversity and inclusion debate that prompted a hastily convened public panel session. Filmmakers including Oscar-nominated cinematographers Mandy Walker ACS, ASC (Elvis) and Rodrigo Prieto ASC AMC (Brokeback Mountain) gave their response.
Mandy Walker: "“I do find I’m still being judged."
Walker admitted to encountering “a lot of conscious and unconscious bias” earlier in her career and says her presence as head of department on films is still a novelty. “I do find I’m still being judged,” she said. “Like many women I always felt that I had to give 110 percent and had to be brilliant to be otherwise, people would say, ‘women can’t do that.’”
Prieto, who shot Barbie for Greta Gerwig said that stories with a female perspective have been “very, very illustrative to me, wonderful, beautiful.” He said people in his position with a platform to make change have a have a responsibility to increase diversity. “Casting is one opportunity for that,” he said, “The key is to open your eyes and look around.”
Nadia Khairat Gomez winner of the Filmlight Colour Award for a music video (Brodka x Igo, DP Mikolaj Syguda), bravely used her acceptance speech to confront the elephant in the room: “In light of the misogynistic article by the festival director, I feel it's really important to address the gender imbalance in our industry. I stand here with gratitude for all the women who paved the path with solidarity, for all female colourists and cinematographers. I hope our male counterparts help foster a safe space for everybody to shine in their talent irrespectively of gender and culture.”
Greg Fisher of Company 3 who took home the theatrical award for Poor Things (DP Robbie Ryan BSC ISC) beating Dune 2, Mad Max Furiosa and Saltburn, was one of the few men to publicly echoed the sentiment: “It is incumbent on men in the industry to do more.”
Dozens of representatives from cinematographer organisations including the BSC, ASC and Women in Cinematography met with Camerimage organisers behind-closed-doors during the event.
The outcome of their meeting, described as being a ‘willingness to cooperate’ on diversity, inclusion and representation will determine the changes the festival will need to make if it is to continue to enjoy the patronage of the industry next year.
Shooting fish in a barrel
For the select exhibitors Camerimage is like shooting fish in a barrel. No other event – not even one in LA – captures quite as many A-list DPs in a small space for informal conversations for so long.
Cooke's Carey Duffy: “The flow through here of international cinematographers producing major work is unique."
“Apart from BSC Expo or CineGear where you’ve only got two days and everyone comes to speak to speak to exhibitors all at once, this is the biggest event for us. You can actually have in-depth conversations,” says Carey Duffy, Director of Product Experiences, Cooke. “The flow through here of international cinematographers producing major work is unique. There’s nowhere else like it. So, it’s a great opportunity for manufacturers to engage with them.”
Cooke had hired out space in a separate hotel away from the exhibition to better concentrate guests’ attention. Its focus this year is on full frame S8s and its range of 1:1 Full Frame Macros. It also continues to educate the market about the /i metadata technology, an optics to post data chain that was several years ahead of its time and is now coming into its own as a means of producing VFX more cost effectively.
“I can’t definitively say that any conversation I have had with a DP at this show has led to them using our lenses on a job but Cameraimage is all about intangible benefits,” Duffy adds. “You might get half a dozen jobs down the road and you might guess that being here is where it all started.”
Hawk's Alexander Bscheidl: “It is about having the time to get to know a DP and for them to take the time to test and handle the kit."
“It's not at all about selling equipment here,” agreed Alexander Bscheidl, managing director of Hawk’s Paris and Morocco office. “It is about having the time to get to know a DP and for them to take the time to test and handle the kit."
The miniseries Shogun, screening at Camerimage, was lensed by Chris Ross BSC with Hawk classX and Hawk VLite anamorphics and VantageOne T1 sphericals. Also shot on Hawk is Young Woman and the Sea (DP Oscar Faura) which screened in competition here.
“DoPs want easy to use tools, simple technology that produces nice skin tones and a cinematic look. They don't need lots of set up time,” says Bscheidl. “Everything has to be ultra reliable.
“Anamorphic was at one time a technical process, nothing else. Now with cameras like the Sony Venice you just use anamorphic for nostalgic, artistic storytelling reasons. Anamorphic produces a nostalgic look on the digital sensors because the reality is that cameras are now sharp, too glossy for the storytelling most DPs want. We have to work with [DoPs] to make the image more realistic to life.”
Raucous sex comedy Anora, showing in competition at Camerimage, was shot vérité style by Drew Daniels on Kodak 35mm in widescreen anamorphic using vintage Lomo prime and zoom lenses supplemented with Orion optics for low-light situations, such as the night-time car interior shots.
“Where else in the world are you going to get such a concentration of people so dedicated people to the craft?” explained VP Russell Bell of Atlas Lens’ third successive presence in Torun. “At IBC or NAB you’d get a smattering of cinematographers, some resellers and satellite companies but Camerimage is the most concentrated most direct to consumer place where every interaction is high value. You can have conversations that are in-depth and technical that you don't really get elsewhere.”
The LA-based vendor started out in 2016 offering the Orion series of anamorphics designed to be more economical than a Hawk or a Cooke. Its second range called Mercury is for full-frame cameras offering a 1.5 squeeze.
Sony was present, some other major vendors were not
Canon, Fujifilm, and ARRI which have been stalwart exhibitors in past editions were not present this year citing budget pressures. Exhibitors report that the festival organiser’s wanted double the fee they last charged to exhibit and some just walked away instead.
This is another pressure that Cameraimage organiser’s need to consider if the festival is to evolve.
DP to director
Prieto was at the festival showing off his feature debut as a director. It’s an adaptation for Netflix of the novel Pedro Páramo by Mexican writer Juan Rulfo. After decades working with directors like Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), Ben Affleck (Argo), Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel), Prieto says he felt ready.
“What I've learned working with [Scorsese et al] came in handy. Just observing on set how directors work with actors and how different actors respond to direction. What to say and, as importantly, what not to say and how to give that space to actors.”
Prieto said he had wanted to photograph a film version of the book for years. Having agreed to direct he felt the responsibility of doing both roles was too great.
“That's where I asked Nico if he would shoot it with me.” Nico Aguilar is co-DoP on the picture and has worked as camera-op and shot second unit for Prieto on several occasions. “He was a great help because I could still have my hand in the lighting which was very complicated because of all the night scenes.”
Young talent
On a wing and a prayer: Seth Emmons and Kate Reid BSC
In a Leitz-sponsored session aimed at encouraging young talent into the industry, compered by head of comms Seth Emmons, panellists each had to eat chicken wings. The wings got progressively hotter with every question. I kid you not, this could be a new format for conferences.
“You learn the most from your mistakes,” advised Kate Reid BSC (Silo S2, Game of Thrones). “If there’s a big fuck up then what led to that chain of events? The hard lessons are the best ones. The biggest part of being a DP is often about how you communicate with people. When something hasn’t worked, it has usually not worked on a human level somewhere along the line.”
Let’s hope the festival organiser’s learn this lesson too.
tl;dr
- The 2024 Camerimage festival is facing backlash due to festival director Marek Żydowicz's controversial remarks suggesting that the inclusion of female filmmakers devalues the craft of cinematography.
- High-profile attendees like director Steve McQueen and jury chair Cate Blanchett voiced their disapproval, emphasizing the importance of being part of the conversation and fostering change in the industry.
- The festival featured the premiere of "Rust," honoring cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, amidst discussions on gender imbalance and diversity in filmmaking, highlighted by Nadia Khairat Gomez's acceptance speech.
- Industry professionals, including cinematographers Mandy Walker and Rodrigo Prieto, spoke out about the biases they face and the responsibility of those in power to promote diversity and inclusion in storytelling.
- The festival serves as a unique networking opportunity for cinematographers, with many organizations meeting behind closed doors to discuss cooperation on improving representation in future editions.
Tags: Production Camerimage
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