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Plus Camerimage - 20th Edition

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Camerimage is the only annual festival devoted to the craft of cinematography.  The festival started when a small group of visual arts passionates invited Vittorio Storaro, ASC, Director of Photography of Apocalypse Now, to attend a small festival in Poland. 20 years later Camerimage has become one of the world's most important festival dedicated to the art of the cinematography. Taking place in Bydgoszcz, Poland, the festival has upheld the value of visual storytelling through seminar, workshops and screenings, student short films, documentary and music videos. The unusual format of the festival, which awards films according to their visual, aesthetic and technical values, has turned out to be an attractive alternative to traditional film festivals.

This year, two lifetime achievement awards were handed out, to David Lynch for Directing and Vadim Yusov for cinematography.

Producer Keanu Reeves screened his film Side by Side in which he takes an in-depth look in the transition from photochemical process film to digital, exploring since the birth of the cinema to the amazing visual effects and digital intermediate nowadays.

London-based Nuke Artist, Leonardo Costa, jetted over to this years Camerimage and provided the following round-up for those of us not lucky enough to attend…

1. Top film
To Kill a Beaver which won the Polish film competition. The psycho-thriller deals with strong themes. It's a naturalistic, gritty, lean and smart hit-man film from Poland and is an absolute must see...

2. Top Seminar
Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The director received the music video pioneer award. He directed the Rock and Roll TV Programme 'Ready, Steady, GO' in the mid 60's in London. After the success of the programme he was invited to direct the promo 'Paperback Writer' and 'Hey Jude' for The Beatles, shooting live performances with the band. Michael explained the idea to shoot a videotape came after The Beatles had been through a number of sound issues and couldn't hear themselves playing, so they'd often have to stop a gig in the 2nd song and leave the stage. The director created the amazing Rolling Stones 'Rock and Roll Circus,' a live show performance with bands that later on would shape the history of rock. Picture John Lennon and Eric Clapton and Keith Richards playing in the same band!

3. Top Workshop
Red Digital Workshop, lead by Paul Cameron, ASC. Cameron talked through his technique and wasn't shy in revealing some of his secrets to the cinematographers. He explained how he adjusts his light using CTB gel and setting up the RED EPIC in daylight conditions to get the most out of the camera in interior shot situations. The master class had a huge 4k screening connected to the camera and an Assimilate Scratch operated by a Colorist on set. Cinematographers bombarded DIT Jeroen Hendricks with questions about how to setup and create LUT's that later could be used in post production.

4. Top Music Video
Die Antwoord "I Fink U Freeky" Directed by Roger Ballena and Ninja, with Cinematographer Melle Van Esse, this music video will blow your mind.

5. Top Food
Zatoka Restauracja. Zur aka Zurek. A traditional polish soup. The taste of this Polish soup comes from the so-called sour leavening, originating from fermentation of rye flour and bread crusts.

6. Lowlight
Due to the level of the interest in the festival it is really difficult to find a hotel if you don't book in advance. If you are planning going next year make sure you plan ahead.

7. Key Themes
Workflow. These are challenging times for cinematographers. They are struggling to keep control of their work during pre-production, production and post production. The fact that digital cameras have so many variables nowadays forces them to study the new technology. Oh yes, like us in post production, they need to understand colorspace, format resolution, LUT's and so on...

8. Best New Talent
The incredible film Chaika is a love story between a prostitute and a sailor. DOP Gorka Gomez Andreu has done an amazing job creating simple but efficient lighting to enhance the storytelling of Dir. Miguel Angel Jimenez. They both won in the director and cinematographers' debut competition.