The 20th edition of the Plus Camerimage festival of cinematography (www.pluscamerimage.pl) wrapped Saturday 1 December with the international Jury, led by Joel Schumacher, honoring director of photography Nicolas Bolduc with a Golden Frog for the Netherlands' War Witch, directed by Kim Nguyen, about the horrors of war in Africa.
The film was nominated for a Golden Bear at Berlinale (www.berlinale.de) and lead Rachel Mwanza won a Silver Bear for the best actress. "It is a hard topic," the director told FNE. "People don't want to talk about it, let alone see it. To be able even to screen at Camerimage is a great honor and I know that this will be good for the film; it will make people see it and talk about it."
The Silver Frog went to French cinematographer Caroline Champetier for her work with Leos Carax in Holy Motors, a surreal drama featuring Denis Lavant, Eva Mendes and Kylie Minogue, which was nominated for a Palm D'or at Cannes (www.festival-cannes.fr). "I fought hard to bring Leon Carax back to filmmaking, because he didn't make a film for the last ten years," Caroline Champetier told FNE. "I think it is a film about humanity but it can also be considered a film about cinema and representation."
Touraj Aslani, cinematographer of Turkey's Rhino Season, directed by Bahman Ghobadi, featuring Monica Bellucci and Behrouz Vossoughi, won the Bronze Frog. Best Polish film honors went to Michal Pakulski, cinematographer for To Kill a Beaver, a new drama from Jan Jakub Kolski, which fuses action and romance in a script about an ex army officer who returns home after several missions abroad but finds no peace. Produced by Tramway Film Studio (www.tramway.pl), who co-produced Kolski's last film, Venice.
Vadim Yusow, a veteran Russian director of photography who worked with Andrei Tarkovsky, won lifetime achievement honors, while America's David Lynch, a longtime supporter of the festival, won this award in the directing category. Top life work in documentary went to Steven Okazaki while Bob Fosse collaborator Alan Heim won editing honors. Michael Lindsay-Hogg won recognition for pioneering music video production and Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski was honored for contribution to the art of film-making. The director-cinematographer duo award went to Gus Van Sant and the late Harris Savides, who was acknowledged during with a tribute of his work.
The winners of Plus Camerimage are:
Main competition:
Golden Frog: War Witch, cin. Nicolas Bolduc, dir. Kim Nguyen
Silver Frog: Holy Motors, cin. Caroline Champetier, dir. Leos Carax
Bronze Frog: Rhino Season, cin. Touraj Aslani, dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Polish film: To Kill a Beaver, cin. Michał Pakulski, dir. Jan Jakub Kolski
Student film:
Golden Tadpole: Blackstory, cin. Robert Oberrainer, dir. Christoph Brunner, Stefan Brunner, Institut für Film und Fernsehen Filmakademie Wien
Silver Tadpole: The Zone, cin. Mikko Kamunen, dir. Lauri Randla, Aalto University of Art and Design, Helsinki
Bronze Tadpole: Without Snow, cin. Magnus Borge, dir. Magnus von Horn, National Łódź Film School
Documentary
Golden Frog: Planet of Snails, cin. Seung-Jun Yi, dir. Seung-Jun Yi
Special Mention: She Male Snails, cin. Ester Martin Bergsmark, Minki Jakerson, dir. Ester Martin Bergsmark
Short documentary
Golden Frog: No Peace Without War, cin. Lorenzo Castore, Adam Cohen, dir. Lorenzo Castore, Adam Cohen
Special Mention: Loneliness of Sound, cin. Jacek Blawut, Paweł Chorzepa, dir. Jacek Piotr Blawut
Director debut: cin. Gorka Gómez Andreu, dir. Miguel Angel Jimenez
Cinematographer debut, cin. Gorka Gómez Andreu, dir. Miguel Angel Jimenez
Music videos: Die Antwoord "I Fink U Freeky," cin. Melle Van Essen, dir. Roger Ballena, Ninja
Cinematography in a Music Video: Flying Lotus "Until the Quiet Comes," cin. Matthew J. Lloyd, dir. Kahlil Joseph
