- Gabriel Beristain (cinematographer - K2, S.W.A.T., Blade II, Street Kings)
- Steven Goldblatt (cinematographer - Batman Forever, Pelikan Brief, Leathal Weapon, Prince of Tides)
- Ryszard Horowitz (photographer working in the USA. His works are exhibited all over the world)
- Pierre Lhomme (cinematographer - Cyrano De Bergerac, The Matter of Resistance, King of Hearts, My Man, The Savage)
- Nicola Pecorini (cinematographer - Las Vegas parano, The Brothers Grimm, Tideland, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)
- Steven Rosenblum (editor - Braveheart, Legends of the Fall, X-Men, The Last Samurai )
- Juan Ruiz Anchia (cinematographer - Spartan, Confidence, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Jungle Book )
- John Toll (cinematographer - The Thin Red Line, Vanilla Sky, Braveheart, Tropic Thunder )
- Nigel Walters (cinematographer - Queer as Folk, Silent Witness, Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage, Saigon Baby)
The sixteen films in competition are:
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33 SCENES FROM LIFE (33 sceny z życia)
Cinematographer: Michał Englert
Director: Małgorzata Szumowska
Country: Germany, Poland
In the beginning 33-year-old Julia has got everything: loving parents, a talented husband who is enjoying success abroad and a job which is simultaneously her greatest passion. In a mere month's time her life changes irrevocably and she has to mature. The sudden illness and death of her mother, witnessed up close, turn out to be far different than anything that could be imagined. The tragedy veers into absurdity and in dramatic situations, instead of the expected tears, there comes a smile.
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THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX
Cinematographer: Rainer Klausmann
Director: Uli Edel
Country: Germany, France, Czech Republick
Based on the book by Stefan Aust
Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks, the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy inside are rocking the very foundations of the still fragile German democracy. The radicalised children of the Nazi generation led by Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin are fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past. Their aim is to create a more human society but by employing inhuman means they not only spread terror and bloodshed, they also lose their own humanity. The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force Horst Herold. And while he succeeds in his relentless pursuit of the young terrorists, he knows he's only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.
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BLINDNESS
Cinematographer: César Charlone
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Country: Canada, Brazil, Japan
A city is ravaged by an epidemic of instant "white blindness". As the contagion spreads, and panic ensues, the authorities quarantine the afflicted within an abandoned mental asylum, where the newly created "society of the blind" quickly breaks down. Criminals and the physically powerful prey upon the weak, hoarding the meagre food rations and committing horrific acts. But inside the quarantined hospital, there is one secret eyewitness: one woman who has not been affected but has pretended she is blind in order to stay beside her beloved husband.
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CHANGELING
Cinematographer: Tom Stern
Director: Clint Eastwood
Country: USA
Los Angeles, 1928: On a Saturday morning in a working-class suburb, Christine said goodbye to her son, Walter, and left for work. When she came home, she discovered he had vanished. Her prayers are met when months later the police returns her kidnapped son. But amidst the frenzy of the photo-op reunion, she knows in her heart he is not Walter.
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DOUBT
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Director: John Patrick Shanley
Country: USA
It's 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A vibrant, charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the schools' strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. Sister Aloysius does not like Flynn, and the feeling deepens, when one of the students is very moved after a meeting with him and is smelling of alcohol. Sister Aloysius believes Father Flynn sexually harasses the students.
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THE DUCHESS
Cinematographer: Gyula Pados
Director: Saul Dibb
Country: UK, Italy, France
Like Princess Diana, her direct descendent, Georgiana Cavendish was beautiful, glamorous and adored by the public. But while her beauty and charisma made her a household name, one thing always seemed to escape her: love. Trapped in an unhappy triangle with her husband and his live-in mistress, Georgiana falls passionately in love with an ambitious young politician, an affair which causes a bitter conflict with her husband and threatens to erupt into a scandal.
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ELITE SQUAD (Tropa de Elite)
Cinematographer: Lula Carvalho
Director: José Padilha
Country: Brazil
It is 1997, and Rio is preparing for the visit of John Paul II. Since the police force is rotten to the core, the job of keeping any sort of order in the drug-infested favelas falls to the elite BOPE squad. In a world where the cops are as corrupt as the criminals, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish right from wrong. At the same time, a BOPE captain, Nascimento, is trying to find a successor worthy of the position, as his wife gets ready to bear his child.
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FOR MY FATHER (Sof Shavua B'Tel Aviv)
Cinematographer: Carl F. Koschnick
Director: Dror Zahavi
Country: Germany, Israel
Tarek is a 20-year-old Palestinian assassin. Sealing off the West Bank put a stop to his career as a footballer. Under mounting pressure he decides to sacrifice himself. For his family, for the political cause, for the life he is deprived of. But when he pulls the fuse, the bomb around his waist fails to explode. Due to the Sabbath, the trigger can only be repaired two days later - two days in which he experiences his enemy's everyday life.
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FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA
Cinematographer: Adam Sikora
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Country: Poland, France
Leon, who works at a medical waste incinerator plant in a provincial town, falls in love with a nurse and obsessively tries to get closer to her. He drugs her with sleeping pills and every night sneaks into her room through the window. He spends long hours by the side of the sleeping woman and becomes more and more daring with each visit.
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GOMORRAH
Cinematographer: Marco Onorato
Director: Matteo Garrone
Country: Italy
Power, money and blood: these are the "values" that the residents of the Province of Naples and Caserta have to face every day. They hardly ever have a choice, and are almost always forced to obey the rules of the "system", the Camorra. Only a lucky few can even think of leading a "normal" life. Five stories are woven together in this violent scenario, set in a cruel and apparently imaginary world, but one which is deeply rooted in reality that is controlled by the mafia.
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GO WITH PEACE JAMIL (Ma salama Jamil - Gå med fred Jamil)
Cinematographer: Aske Alexander Foss
Director: Omar Shargawi
Country: Denmarka
An Arabic tale that takes place in Copenhagen. About ancient religious hatred, about love, punishment, guilt and redemption, about being responsible for one's own actions and refusing a path of violence. Jamil stands in the middle. He is fighting the war of his life; a war within himself.
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THE HURT LOCKER
Cinematographer: Barry Ackroyd
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Country: USA
A portrayal of elite soldiers who disarm bombs in the heat of combat. When a new sergeant, James, takes over a highly trained bomb disposal team amidst violent conflict, he surprises his two subordinates, Sanborn and Eldridge, by recklessly plunging them into a deadly game of urban combat. James behaves as if he's indifferent to death. As the men struggle to control their wild new leader, the city explodes into chaos, and James' true character reveals itself in a way that will change each man forever.
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LA RABIA
Cinematographer: Sol Lopatin
Director: Albertina Carri
Country: Argentina
The farmers of Argentina's endless pampas are as rough and bristly as the arid landscape. Circumstances force them to share and help one another out. But sometimes emotions can erupt like a summer storm... When strong, silent Poldo feels that his more exuberant fellow farmer Pichón has insulted little Nati, his mute daughter, Poldo breaks off all contact with him. Poldo also forbids his wife to see Pichón, not suspecting that she and Pichón are carrying on a passionate relationship behind his back.
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SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle
Director: Danny Boyle
Country: UK, USA
The true story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who takes part in India's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and is just one question away from winning the top prize. But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of the girl he loved and lost.
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TULPAN
Cinematographer: Jolanta Dylewska
Director: Sergei Dvortsevoy
Country: Germany, Kazahstan, Poland, Russia, Switzerland
After completing his naval service, young Asa travels back to the Kazakh steppe. To start his new life, eager Asa must get married first before he can become a shepherd himself. Asa's only hope for marriage on the deserted steppe is Tulpan, the daughter of another shepherd family. Poor Asa is disappointed to learn that Tulpan doesn't like him because she thinks that his ears are too big. But Asa doesn't give up and he continues to dream of a life that may not be possible on the steppe ...
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A WOMAN IN BERLIN (Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin)
Cinematographer: Benedict Neuenfels
Director: Max Färberböck Country: Germany, Poland
The film is based on the shocking diaries of an anonymous German woman who had been in hiding in a half-destroyed house when the Red Army invaded Berlin. She has to seek shelter from the abuse of the Red Army soldiers by finding one soldier who might protect her - though things get complicated when something like love seems to get in their way.
In addition, the jury for the the Laszlo Kovacs Student Award (a Golden Tadpole) includes:
- Brad Silberling - President (director, producer, writer - City of Angels, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Moonlight Mile, 10 Items or Less)
- Monty Montgomery (producer, writer - Portait of a Lady, Wild at Heart, The Loveless)
- Sue Gibson (cinematographer, President of BSC, The Forsyte Saga, Mrs Dalloway, Hear my Song)
- Lilly Kilvert (production designer - Legends of the Fall, The Last Samurai, Siege)
- Karl Walter Lindenlaub (cinematographer - Independence Day, Rob Roy, Jackal)
