EVENT
GUIDE 2021
Event Guide 2021: Brought to you by British Cinematographer magazine – Uniting cinematographers around the world
29TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BRITISH
CINEMATOGRAPHER
U N I T I N G C I N E M AT O G R A P H E R S A R O U N D T H E W O R L D
13–20 NOV 2021 TORUŃ, POLAND KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE
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EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
Welcome
BRITISH
CINEMATOGRAPHER
U N I T I N G C I N E M AT O G R A P H E R S A R O U N D T H E W O R L D
Publisher STUART WALTERS +44 (0) 121 200 7820 stuart.walters@ob-mc.co.uk Publisher SAM SKILLER +44 (0) 121 200 7820 sam@ob-mc.co.uk Editor ZOE MUTTER +44 (0) 7793 048 749 zoe@britishcinematographer.co.uk Design MARK LAMSDALE +44 (0) 121 200 7820 mark.lamsdale@ob-mc.co.uk Sales LIZZY SUTHERST +44 (0) 7498876760 lizzy@britishcinematographer.co.uk Editorial Assistant TOM WILLIAMS tom@britishcinematographer.co.uk Website PAUL LACEY +44 (0) 121 200 7820 paul@paullacey.digital
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FILMMAKERS ASSEMBLE
G
reetings and welcome to the EnergaCAMERIMAGE preview supplement, brought to you by British Cinematographer. Although the renowned film festival moved into the virtual realm last year, due to the pandemic, the ambition remained unchanged - to celebrate cinematography and inspire a global filmmaking community of all ages. This year, the much-loved festival returns as a live event and with another incredible programme. The British Cinematographer team is thrilled to attend and excited to see many of you in Toruń to celebrate this fine industry. Please stop by our stand in the Market exhibition to find out about our print and digital offerings as we evolve in line with the filmmaking community’s interests and needs. There’s plenty to look forward to at the festival, including a spectacular and wide-ranging schedule of screenings, pertinent and educational sessions hosted by world-class filmmakers, an innovation-packed Market exhibition, and the celebration of talent through awards such as a special award for outstanding director which will be presented to Denis Villeneuve and the new FilmLight Colour Awards. The extraordinary career, skill, and creativity of Jost Vacano ASC BVK is also being recognised by the festival team as he receives the Lifetime Achievement Award. You can read more about his fascinating life and work in a special interview in this publication along with a tribute from his long-time collaborator, director Paul Verhoeven. Elsewhere in this preview, you’ll find pieces on the European Film Centre planned to be completed in Toruń by 2025, an interview with Camerimage’s Marek Żydowicz and Kazik Suwala, and a round-up of key events and innovations at the festival. We hope you find this preview an interesting and insightful. Look out for a post-show round-up in the January edition of British Cinematographer. Until next time,
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Zoe Mutter Editor, British Cinematographer
The publishers wish to emphasise that the opinions expressed in this publication are not representative of Laws Publishing Ltd but the responsibility of the individual contributors.
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Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE | 03
EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
Interview
CAMERIMAGE JUMPS BACK WITH FULL PROGRAMME AND NEW AWARDS
Home of the Golden Frog and showcase for the skills of cinematographers, EnergaCAMERIMAGE returns as a live event this year. Organisers Marek Żydowicz and Kazik Suwala tell Kevin Hilton about their hopes for the festival and the cinema market as a whole.
Marek Żydowicz (Credit/ Sabine Felber)
04 | Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE
T
he Camerimage Festival is well summed up by its secondary title: the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography. First held in 1993, the event has established itself as one of the major international film festivals. But while Cannes, Vienna and Berlin also highlight the important contribution of cinematographers, Camerimage is more directly focused on the creation of imagery on film. As well as innovation and creativity in the shooting of motion pictures, Camerimage also highlights emerging talent through the Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition and provides a showcase for the latest technology and equipment in the Market exhibition. Like so many events last year, Camerimage
Kazik Suwała (©EnergaCAMERIMAGE IFF)
was cancelled due to the pandemic but is returning to Toruń, the Polish city where it began, this November. With this, festival director Marek Żydowicz hopes for a “return to normal life” that sees, as in the Albert Camus novel The Plague, “people going to the cinema again”. At the time of writing, the plan was for Camerimage to have a full programme, with events taking place live in Toruń, the symbol of which, a golden frog, gives its name to the top award of the main competition. In addition to the recognised competitions, the 2021 Camerimage will host the first FilmLight Colour Awards. Initiated by the UK-based developer of colour correction and management workstations, the scheme is open to work produced on any grading system by emerging and well-known operators who are either independent or work for major facilities. (See Competition and Market section on page 14 for more details.) Explaining the decision to include the new awards in Camerimage, Żydowicz says, “We want to draw attention to the aesthetic contribution to the visual language of film by post-production artists. This idea was accepted by the cinematographers, IMAGO and ASC. I am very curious to see what will result from the presentations, meetings and talks that will accompany the introduction of this award at our festival.” The Colour Awards join Camerimage’s long-standing contests: the Main Competition, Cinematographers’ and Directors’ Debuts Competitions, Documentary Shorts and Features Competition, Polish Films Competition, Music Videos Competition and the Film and Art School Etudes Competition. There will also be workshops, seminars, presentations of film industry technologies, screenings of award-winning films and sessions with cinematographers and other film creatives. A highlight of the schedule is the appearance at the festival of Denis Villeneuve, who will receive a special Camerimage award >> www.britishcinematographer.co.uk
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EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
Interview
for outstanding director and also present his latest work, Dune (DP Greig Fraser ACS ASC). (More details on all this in the Competition and Market Section.) As with many other festivals and exhibitions cancelled because of COVID-19, Camerimage had a virtual presence during 2020. Żydowicz’s colleague Kazik Suwala, who supervises the Camerimage programme and handles international relations and is director of the European Film Centre currently being built in Toruń (see page 08) - explains that the online version had to be organised very rapidly. “We were planning to have Camerimage 2020 as a regular festival,” he says. “We were ready with projectors on the planes and then the decision [for lockdown] was made in Poland in early November 2020.” Despite the perception that the internet has broken down territorial boundaries and presented the opportunity for events such as Camerimage to be truly international, Suwala observes that there were difficulties in screening films last year. “Today we live in a world of cinema showing films online for the festivals,” he says, “but the regulations and the rights are not that easy. It’s totally different when you plan to present the film in a cinema. You have the exact number of people, the hour, the place, the projector. But it’s totally different for producers and distributors to talk about an online presentation [due to] the territories.” Because of this there were only limited screenings last year, although Suwala says this was still “pretty effective”. Instead, he identifies the “strongest part” of the 2020 virtual Camerimage as being the meetings, seminars, and Q&A sessions. “We managed to do over 100 meetings and lots of them were where we were connecting with people,” Suwala comments. “We connected with people in New York, China, Australia and other places. From the beginning, this festival was about meeting people, showing the films and discussing those films, images, technology and better products. Having the festival online and keeping the
Denis Villeneuve will receive a special Camerimage award for outstanding director and also present his latest work, Dune (DP Greig Fraser ACS ASC)
06 | Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE
Opening film, The Tragedy of Macbeth
“THE OPENING CEREMONY WILL FEATURE JOEL COEN AND HIS REGULAR DP BRUNO DELBONNEL ASC AFC. THEY WILL INTRODUCE THE DIRECTOR'S NEW FEATURE, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH, WHICH WAS SHOT IN EVOCATIVE BLACK-AND-WHITE.” atmosphere was difficult to maintain but we did succeed, I think.” The return to a live, physical event - with people gathered together in screening rooms to watch films - brings with it the need for caution and adherence to COVID protocols. “Because of the international nature of our festival, we decided that accreditation would be distributed only to people who are fully vaccinated and have tested negative for COVID,” Suwala says. “We believe that’s a good way to go because [we want] people to feel safe. The whole of Poland, [including] the government, thinks the same. We feel that we should not only follow [the restrictions] but promote them more and not just expect people to be vaccinated for the festival.” At the time of the interview, Suwala and his colleagues were still working on arrangements for safe interaction during the festival, but these are likely to follow those stipulated by the Polish government. These - which can be found at www.gov.pl/web/ coronavirus/temporary-limitations - include a minimum distance of 1.5 metres between what is described as pedestrians and the compulsory wearing of masks indoors and on public transport. The specific guidance for cinemas is: “They operate under a strict sanitary regime at no more than 75 percent occupancy. Wearing masks covering both mouth and nose is mandatory.” Anyone arriving in Poland from abroad who is not fully vaccinated will have to quarantine for ten days. Such restrictions do not appear to have put people off entering the competitions or deterred them from attending the festival. “The number of films being submitted is the same, as
is the willingness to show them,” says Suwala. “Both small, independent filmmakers and big studios are working hard to have films in festivals around the world. The only problem to deal with is whether or not to have the films online. Films are made for the big screen and filmmakers want them to be seen like that. You can have five [delivery] platforms on your computer and watch films but it looks like people want to come back to the cinema.” A reason to come back to the Camerimage cinema was announced shortly before going to press. The Opening Ceremony on Saturday 13 November will feature Joel Coen and his regular DP Bruno Delbonnel ASC AFC. They will introduce the director’s new feature, The Tragedy of Macbeth, which was shot in evocative black-and-white. The closing film on 20 November will be No Time to Die with director Cary Joji Fukunaga and Linus Sandgren ASC FSF in attendance. Marek Żydowicz is hopeful that, after the chaos and misery brought by coronavirus, a new era of inspirational art will emerge. “Spanish flu brought about The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and expressionist cinema,” he says. “The film industry, like every other business sector, wants not only to make up for the losses caused by the pandemic but also to create new fields of economic development. One is applied by the major VoD services that support local film productions abroad. The time has come for a film culture that will nurture productions about the exhumation of humanist values, about the goodness and beauty in the world that may and should serve as a panacea for aggression, greed, and ugliness.” The EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival runs from 13 to 20 November 2021. n For more information, please visit: www.camerimage.pl/en www.britishcinematographer.co.uk
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EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
European Film Centre
BUILDING A BETTER HOME FOR FILM
The European Film Centre is an ambitious project that will see the creation of not only a new home for the Camerimage Festival but also a showcase for film as an art form. Centre director Kazik Suwala tells Kevin Hilton about how it came to be and what facilities will be available. 08 | Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE
T
he return of Camerimage as a live event after its cancellation last year coincides with continuing preparations to build a new national institution in Poland dedicated to promoting and screening the art of filmmaking. The European Film Centre will also provide dedicated premises for the festival in the city of Toruń, which was where it was founded in 1993. Announced in January 2020, the €120 million complex will house several auditoria, plus a sound stage and postproduction facility. The agreement to create the European Film Centre was signed by Camerimage festival director Marek Żydowicz, Poland’s minister of culture and deputy prime minister, Piotr Gliński, and the mayor of Toruń, Michał Zaleski in 2019. The organisation to run the Centre came into being at the beginning of 2020, with Kazik Suwala as its director. Previously the office director of Camerimage,
Suwala explains that the first year was spent building up to launching an international competition to select architects to design the building. Out of 42 entrants, the winner was Baumschlager Eberle Lustenau, an architecture studio based in Austria that produced a concept for the building design. “We then started to negotiate with them on the formal technical aspects and once that has been agreed it will probably take a year to design it,” Suwala says. “We hope they will be finished with that at the end of next year.” While the European Film Centre is still largely conceptualised right now, there are some definite ideas of what it will contain and how it will run. Suwala reveals that the centrepiece is a “grand auditorium” of between 1,500 and 1,800 seats, with a big screen and immersive sound system. It will have a foyer leading into it, which Suwala envisions to be “huge”, in the region of 4,000 square metres (43,055 square feet). In addition to the central screening room there will be what is being called The House of Cinema. “There will be three other screening rooms of different sizes, probably 200 to 300 seats each, but also with professional screening and sound equipment,” Suwala explains. “As well as this there will be an exhibition dedicated to widely understood cinematic art. We will also have an education centre with several spaces dedicated to training, including workshops and presentations of art, film and technology.” Another exhibition space of approximately 2,000 square metres will be created, presumably for the Market component of Camerimage. As well as these more theoretical and educational areas, the European Film Centre will additionally offer practical, working facilities. These include what Suwala calls a small soundstage of around 700 square metres, which will be for both training workshops and “smaller movie” shoots. “It’s not like a huge professional soundstage to do a big production but a small, professional space for education and training and to provide something for people to shoot their films, music videos or series.” There will also be a post-production suite alongside to support any filming work done in the Centre. While the niceties of the design are still to be finalised and agreed, Suwala is hopeful building work will be able to start towards the end of 2022. The target is to have the European Film Centre completed by 2025. From there, the city of Toruń, the country of Poland and the world will have a new focal point in which to celebrate the cinematic arts. n www.britishcinematographer.co.uk
EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
Lifetime Achievement
B
est known for his Oscarnominated Das Boot, German DP Jost Vacano ASC BVK also enjoyed a two-decade collaboration with Paul Verhoeven, which included creating a futuristic colony on Mars in Total Recall, dystopian Detroit (shot in Dallas) for RoboCop, as well as Starship Troopers, Hollow Man and Showgirls. Born in 1934 in Osnabrück, the son of a choreographer and a conductor, Vacano describes himself as a “visually oriented person” whose hobbies included stills photography. He began making films with an 8mm camera as a schoolboy. “I felt that stills were static and that, for me, the image should be moving,” he says. It’s a kineticism that defined his later work.
PRACTICAL FILM SCHOOL
Jost Vacano ASC BVK (Photo: Hans Albrecht Lusznat)
IN HONOUR OF ART AND ENGINEERING For his outstanding body of work, serial camera inventions and unre-lenting fight for better recognition and fair remuneration of cinematog-raphers everywhere, Jost Vacano ASC BVK is a deserved recipient of Camerimage’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Intent on a career behind the camera, Vacano settled in Munich after leaving school. The city was the centre of filmmaking in Germany in the 1950s but lacked a film school. There were schools in Poland, Paris, and Moscow but all depended on a student speaking the local language. Vacano knew he’d have to learn the trade by getting involved at grassroots. “I was very naïve and was an active moviegoer and knew the names of several cinematographers working in Germany. I thought I’d try to talk to them and ask to join their crew.” He made phone calls but was told time and again that in order to get a job, even work experience, he would need a showreel. Catch-22 but Vacano’s persistence was undimmed. Since he could neither study cinematography somewhere, nor had a chance to learn and work in a professional camera team, he had to start as a complete autodidact. “I thought I’d go to high school and study something similar to cinematography – like electrical engineering. At the same I knew I wanted to be a cinematographer not an engineer, so I also enlisted in an acting school. This was not to become an actor, but to learn the basics of acting so that later on I’d know how to work with actors.” He wasn’t the only one with that idea. Also at the Munich school was Peter Schamoni, an aspiring director who, like Vacano, had struggled to break into the industry. The two were to form a lifelong friendship. Together, they gained permits to cross the Iron Curtain from West Germany into Moscow in 1957 and make a documentary about the World Youth Festival. They spent a week there during which, with a rented 16mm Bolex, Vacano captured the crowds and celebrations of the official communist party display alongside shots of poor Muscovites in the suburbs. Jazz im Kreml and Moskau ruft! (both released in 1959) were his first as cinematographer. More documentaries, commercials and TV films followed as Vacano learned on the job before making his cinema debut with Schonzeit für Füchse, (No Shooting Time for Foxes), again with Schamoni, which won the Silver Bear in Berlin in 1966. His career took off in the mid1970s when he shot The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum by Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta and later Lieb Vaterland Magst Ruhig Sein with Roland Klick. Vacano was honoured for both films with the Federal Film Prize.
MOBILISING THE CAMERA
All the time, Vacano was marrying artistry with engineering skills. While Garrett Brown was experimenting with what was to become Steadicam in the US, Vacano was making his own explorations of gyro-stabilised camera systems. “To me, film is always about movement. I have to involve the audience in what is happening, becoming part of the scene, not just show them. Moviegoers don’t necessarily want to sit on a tripod or glide on a dolly. Sometimes the camera has to be like a living person in the scene.” He first worked with a Naval device for keeping binoculars steady on ship and deployed it for crime drama Supermarket (1974) directed by Roland Klick. “I got hold of this stabiliser and connected it to a Arriflex 2C 35mm which reduced shake and created a feeling of the camera - and by this, the audience – become part of the action.” He refined it to ground-breaking effect to put the viewer inside the claustrophobic submarine of Das Boot (1981). Director Wolfgang Petersen wanted to tell the story – adapted from Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s bestseller – with as much authenticity as possible and had 1:1 interior replicas of a U-boat constructed for the shoot. “We couldn’t use a Steadicam because it was too big to fit through the connecting doors,” Vacano says. His instrument had two gyroscopes to provide stability for the Arriflex, a different and smaller scale solution than Steadicam, and on which 90 percent of Das Boot was shot. It became known as ‘JostiCam’. “The story is told through the eyes of a young war correspondent, so we wanted to put the audience in his point of view. The producers were under pressure to make the film for the worldwide market and to show that German filmmaking was as good as Hollywood.” Several directors including John Sturges and stars like Robert Redford and Paul Newman had been lined up long before to film a version of Buchheim’s book in Hollywood. Sets were even built but script problems scuppered production.
Shooting his first film Moskau in 1957
Jost Vacano ASC BVK discussing lighting approaches for Total Recall (photos from Vacano’s private collection)
“THE PHOTOGRAPHIC CREATION OF AN ENTIRE FILM, IN ITS TOTALITY, IS A UNIQUE PIECE OF ART. THIS CANNOT BE DIVIDED, IT HAS ONLY ONE AUTHOR: THE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY.” MAKING DAS BOOT
“We had no experience shooting a submarine film. That type of film had all been done before in Hollywood (such as The Enemy Below, 1957). My idea was to shoot it like a documentary, handheld and without film lighting, to get across the experience of what it was like being in that tight and dangerous space in wartime.” With no external light available, Vacano fitted the sub’s interior with marine lights which accentuated the pale skins of men confined for
Jost and Arnold Schwarzenegger during filming of Tales From The Crypt
Shooting RoboCop with the Fries Mitchell camera
weeks below decks. The mocked-up sub was on a hydraulic platform at Bavaria Studios, but Vacano needed a solution for keeping his camera steady even while the floor rocked in all directions. “People couldn’t see the horizon in the submarine and had no orientation at all, therefore I needed to stabilise the handheld camera on the horizontal line, so I used a spirit level at the beginning of each take to orientate the three axes of the stabiliser.” With barely room for a camera-op let alone focus puller, Vacano also devised a remote focus control using bowden-cables, a pulley system, and a ring around the lens for the focus puller to adjust just behind or underneath him. It’s a piece of electronic kit today’s DPs take for granted. The film’s producers took some convincing, but they had the courage to back the project with a budget of $18.5m, making it among the most expensive in German cinema. It repaid spectacularly when it reaped $84.9 million worldwide (equivalent to $220 million in 2020) and six Academy Award nominations, including for its cinematography. “My instinct, whenever I have a problem is ‘can I build it myself?’. Now these tools are easy to use. In 1980, it was like having a Black & Decker on set.” The success of Das Boot and Vacano’s new standing as the first German to be Oscar nominated for cinematography set in train a struggle for professional recognition that is still unwinding.
CAMPAIGNING FOR COPYRIGHT
Jost with director Wolfgang Petersen (right) during filming The NeverEnding Story
“The prevailing view was that cameras were technical devices and the cinematographer just a technician who pressed a button when the director called action,” he says. “Technicians are paid a flat rate and that’s the end of the matter. I believed that the cinematographer is not just an author of the image but a key decision maker in the film as artform. I also believed I’d proved this with Das Boot. I decided to campaign to ensure that we are perceived as image creators and that this is also reflected in copyright law. It became my second profession.” It has taken 40 years and a series of lawsuits (challenging production company >> Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE | 11
EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
Lifetime Achievement Bavaria Film, public broadcaster WDR which serialized Das Boot and distributor Eurovideo) but, in Germany at least, the work of a cinematographer is recognised by law as one of the co-authors of a film and able to claim a percentage of its turnover. Having sunk his own saving into the legal challenge, Vacano was finally recompensed in 2019. “It was a professional-political campaign. The fact that not only cameramen and women, but also editors and costume designers everyone involved in a film - should be entitled to share in its financial success, was the goal.”
TOTAL RECALL
Since 1986, Vacano has worked primarily in the US, collaborating with Verhoeven, with whom he previously made World War II-resistance drama Soldier of Orange, followed by the controversial comingof-age film Spetters. Filming sci-fi blockbuster Total Recall at Mexico City’s Churubusco Studio, Vacano struggled to find the right colour red for Mars. “Every DP, every gaffer, has these nice little swatch books and you go through them and say, ‘This is a wonderful colour.’ You do a film test and it looks great. It was two weeks before shooting and I just figured we would order what we needed - two hundred or three
hundred rolls - it was a huge amount. Then we found out the colour we chose wasn’t in production anymore. I tried to substitute with another colour from another company, but the film tests didn’t work. Finally, Rosco agreed to manufacture it for us, and they started production of this special colour again. Just barely in time, we got what we needed.” Filming Verhoeven’s Hollow Man, Vacano was challenged to execute the lighting of invisibility. “For a director of photography, that presents an interesting challenge, because cinematographers are normally hired to shoot things we are supposed to be able to see. In CGI-effects Capturing scenes for Total Recall films, you usually shoot something that is not yet there, like the bugs in Starship Troopers; but in Hollow Man, we shot something already there that was supposed to not be there.” Of Verhoeven he says, “The way you want to create images and tell your story is about personality and you need a director working the same way you are working. Paul and I were like that.” That wasn’t quite the case on Katharina Blum. “There is some great acting, and its themes matched the political situation at that time but the director and I did not fit together well. We were both professionals and certainly did the best we could, but it was not an altogether happy experience.”
ART, ENGINEERING, AND AUTHORSHIP
Das Boot excepted, Supermarket perhaps best showcases Vacano’s style. He enjoyed a “wonderful relationship” with Klick to stage scenes collaboratively on location around Hamburg and the director was also open to more technical ingenuity from his DP. “We had a very low budget and shot 100ASA film but with a lot of night exteriors. There were no high-speed lenses available, and we didn’t have the money to spend on HMIs and giant film lights, so I thought I’d have to build a faster lens.” He took an Olympus 1.4 speed lens to shoot with available light and rehoused it to fit on a 52mm ARRI mount. “The lens was much bigger than the camera mount so I took all the glass elements out and built a new housing with no iris diaphragm, just wide open with no stops, so we could shoot all the night work. It was a mix of art and engineering.” And here is Vacano’s creed, his fierce defence of the role of the DP. “Cinematography in general is about lighting, composition, and movement of each shot,” he says. “That doesn’t change with postproduction of VFX or with virtual production shooting against video screens. The DP is still ‘directing’ the photography, setting the creative photographic standards. I’m not denying anyone else’s artistic influence, or the high degree of responsibility for the scenes they have created. But I think, the photographic creation of an entire film, in its totality, is a unique piece of art. This cannot be divided, it has only one author: the Director of Photography.” Article by Adrian Pennington
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Jost Vacano ASC BVK (left) and director Paul Verhoeven during filming RoboCop
A tribute from Jost Vacano ASC BVK’s frequent collaborator, director Paul Verhoeven.
“I
met Jost for the first time around 1977. By then I had made three Dutch movies - among them Turkish Delight - with Jan de Bont as my DP. However, Jan had decided to continue his career in the US (where he finally ended up as director, notably of Speed and Twister). So, I had to find a new DP for my upcomimg project Soldier of Orange. My Dutch/ German producer Rob Houwer (Neue Welle) showed me three German films with different DPs.
1st AC Peter Maiwald (left), Jost Vacano ASC BVK and the JostiCam featuring twin-stabilisers and remote focus
One of these movies was Supermarket (directed by Roland Klick) and the DP was Jost Vacano. I was very impressed by the astounding mobility of the camera, and the sparse use of film lamps. So, we met, talked for half an hour, and decided to work together on Soldier of Orange. It was only when we started shooting that I found out how Jost had achieved that spectacular mobility of the camera: his father had constructed a proto-Steadicam! These were two centrifugal wheels, horizontal and vertical, rotating at high speed, attached underneath the camera we used a small handheld Arriflex. So, you could run with that ’Steadicam’, jump around, fall on your knees and the image was always completely steady. No ‘wobbling’ at all - it looked as if the camera was on a dolly, but better than that! Don’t forget that Jost also used this instrument for the wonderful Das Boot. There was only one problem: the centrifugal wheels
made a high-pitched sound. You could not use it for dialogue scenes. But fortunately, the movies that Jost and I made together were much more based on visuals than dialogue, and it was easy to post-sync the voices later. In our next movie, Spetters, there were an enormous amount of motocross scenes and the ‘Jost-camera’ worked again in a most spectacular way. In 1985, I started to work in the US, and we were able to take Jost with us. We could prove to the American authorities that Jost Vacano was indispensable and that his work, his artistry, was beneficial to American culture! And so, we made another five movies together: Robocop, Total Recall, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, and Hollow Man. It was only on Showgirls that we abandoned the Jostcamera and started to use a real Steadicam and its operator. During all these nearly 15 years, it has been wonderful to work with Jost. He was not only a great DP but also came up with many solutions regarding how to stage a scene. He had a sharp insight into the dramaturgic perspective of scenes and the film as a whole. Strangely enough, we never talked about how to light a scene. I left that totally to Jost and for good reason: he knew better than I did! I love Jost. He helped me through many difficult moments. And it was a very sad day for me when Jost, in 2000, called me to announce his retirement. He is such a wonderful man, artist, and cinematographer!” n Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE | 13
EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
Market Exhibitors
A
puture will show the Nova P600c, Light Storm (LS) 1200d Pro, LS 600x Pro lighting fixtures. The Nova P600c is the latest addition to the Nova family of LED panels, and offers 2,000K~10,000K CCT and soft light quality, plus a new suite of professional-level controls; LS 1200d Pro is claimed to be the brightest fixture in the Aputure and LS ranges, with a 1200W daylight COB chipset and an 83,100+ lux output at 3 meters using the Hyper Reflector (Narrow); and the LS 600x Pro has a bi-colour range of 2700K~6500K and features a native Hyper-Reflector, with the option of the F10 Fresnel modifier. ARRI and ARRI Rental will have a full display of products, as well as hosting two live events. The product line-up includes ARRI’s new Hi-5 hand unit for wireless camera and lens control, the Alexa LF, Alexa Mini LF, Signature Prime and Zoom lenses and the Orbiter light fixture; ARRI Rental is to show the ARRIFLEX 765, Alexa 65 black and white camera and the new Alfa anamorphic and Moviecam spherical lenses. ARRI Solutions Group will host an expert panel discussion on mixed reality and virtual production, with special guest cinematographer Nikolaus Summerer talking about his work on 1899 and Dark. A Q&A session with the audience will follow the presentations. ARRI Rental is to present a onehour seminar on the history and operation of the ARRIFLEX 65mm film camera. DP, camera operator and ARRI Rental technician Sascha Mieke will look at this historic camera, which first appeared in the late 1980s. Astera, a specialist in wireless LEDs, will bring two products launched last year to Camerimage Market for the first time. The NYX Bulb, named after the female personification of night in Greek mythology, is a colour tunable LED fixture the same size as a standard LED bulb. It features a CRMX receiver for wireless DMX connectivity, plus RF and Bluetooth modules for control on a smartphone or tablet using the Astera App. The PixelBrick is a multi-functional light source designed for concerts, events, and broadcast as well as filming. It is compact and light, IP65 rated and has 450 Lumens and 1200 Lux at two metres. Canon will celebrate ten years of the Cinema EOS range by showcasing the EOS C500 Mark II, a full-frame camera launched in 2019 that features a CMOS sensor with a 15+ stop and a wide colour space, which the manufacturer sees as suited to HDR productions; plus the COS C70 and EOS R5. Leitz will have its full range on show, with a selection of focal lengths for each product line. These include the Elsie, Leitz Prime, Leitz Zoom, Thalia, M0.8 Summicron-C and Summilux-C. Moonlighting Industries will preview the Moon Smart Focus distance meter. The unit is based on AI technology and can work with any cine lens, high-end camera and lens control system. It was designed to assist focus pullers and improve the overall workflow of a production. The pre-release version of Moon Smart Focus has been used during the past year on Scandinavian productions, including season three of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom - Exodus. A new version is planned for 2022. Panasonic LUMIX launched a new box-style full frame camera in October and will show it at Camerimage. The LUMIX BS1H is a mirrorless camera designed to combine the cinema-quality video performance of the LUMIX S1H with a box-style profile. Featuring a 24-megapixel full-frame sensor with Dual Native ISO technology, the BS1H further offers 6K full-area high resolution recording, low-light performance, and a wide dynamic range of 14+ stops V-Log. SUMOLIGHT will show a pre-production model of the forthcoming SUMOLASER modular light. It has a narrow beam with high output and can be divided up into smaller units that are able to run independently. Also on display will be the recently introduced SUMOSKY interactive lighting system. This can be customised to suit specific requirements and comprises an expandable LED volume that can be used both vertically and horizontally. Vantage is to show its two most recent large format optics. The Vantage One4s is a spherical lens that does not feature floating elements, aspherics or expanders. Among its features are super close focus, compact design, mechanical robustness, and full optical power for large format and T1.4 high-speed optics. The Hawk65 Vintage’74 is a smart 1.3x squeeze optical that can work with large 24x36 mm sensors to produce a 2:1 aspect ratio. It also offers a slight top/bottom crop, which produces widescreen ratio such as 2.4:1. Other features include an Iris Shaping System for producing a bokeh similar to that of a 2x squeeze, giving a classic anamorphic look. Zeiss will be showcasing Supreme Primes and the entire range of Supreme Prime Radiance Lenses, which include the new 18mm, 40mm, 65mm and 135mm. Also exhibiting are Cooke Optics, Creamsource, Dedo Weigert Film, DoPchoice and Sony (no product details available at time of going to press). n Article by Kevin Hilton 14 | Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE
Aputure Light Storm 600x
ARRI Hi-5 hand unit for wireless camera and lens control
Moon Smart Focus
SUMOLIGHT SUMOSKY front control
www.britishcinematographer.co.uk
EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
Main Competition
C’mon C’mon DP: Robbie Ryan BSC ISC
The Getaway King - Set in 1980s Communist era Poland and based on the true story of criminal Zdzisław Najmrodzki, this is the directorial debut of Mateusz Rakowicz, with cinematography by Jacek Podgórski. Hinterland - A young man and his shellshocked friends return to Vienna after World War I to find they are an uncomfortable reminder of a world others want to forget. Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and shot by Benedict Neuenfels BVK AAC. King Richard - A documentary profile of Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena Williams. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green with cinematography by Robert Elswit ASC. The Last Duel - The latest visual epic by Ridley Scott, based on a historically true story. Shot by Dariusz Wolski ASC.
The Golden Frog - along with its Silver and Bronze amphibian colleagues - recognises achievement in cinematography. This year’s Main Competition at Camerimage has a diverse and distinguished line-up of feature films, shot by some of the most talented directors of photography working today. Animals - Directed by Nabil Ben Yadir and filmed by cinematographer Frank van den Eeden NSC SBC, this Belgian/French feature examines how someone from a good background can be driven to the most extreme acts.
The Last Duel DP: Dariusz Wolski ASC
Belfast - Shot by Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC, this is a semi-autobiographical feature by director Kenneth Branagh, who looks at the effects of the outbreak of the Troubles in Northern Ireland on one family.
Hinterland DP: Benedict Neuenfels BVK AAC
C’mon C’mon - The new feature by director Mike Mills, with black-and-white cinematography by Robbie Ryan BSC ISC. A chaotic radio journalist who travels across America for his work is asked to look after his young nephew. Dune - The long-awaited Denis Villeneuve version of Frank Herbert’s fantasy epic features other worldly imagery, realised by director of photography Greig Fraser ASC ACS. Villeneuve will appear at Camerimage to receive a special award for outstanding director.
The Getaway King DP: Jacek Podgórski King Richard DP: Robert Elswit ASC
Eight for Silver - Horror film written, directed, and shot by Sean Ellis. Set in France and switching between the 19th century and the Battle of the Somme, Eight for Silver unravels the mystery of a curse afflicting a landowner’s family. The French Dispatch - Wes Anderson’s latest has been described by one critic as the most Wes Anderson film he has made. It was filmed by Robert D Yeoman ASC in both colour and black-and-white, with all the visual tricks and reference one would expect.
16 | Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE
The Last Execution - Set in the two Germanys of the Cold War era, The Last Execution tells the story of an ordinary man who agrees to work for the Stasi secret police in exchange for his dream job. Director, Franziska Stünkel; cinematographer, Nikolai von Graevenitz. Respect - The biopic of Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, directed by Liesl Tommy and filmed by Kramer Morgenthau ASC. The Tragedy of Macbeth - Joel Coen takes on Shakespeare’s timeless tale of ambition, murder, and consequences, shot in black-andwhite by Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC. Both Coen and Delbonnel will open Camerimage by introducing their film.
CINEMATOGRAPHERS’ DEBUTS COMPETITION Annular Eclipse Director: Zhang Chi Cinematographer: Yi Fang Back to the Wharf Director: Ziaofeng Li Cinematographer: Songri Piao Bipolar Director: Queena Li Cinematographer: Yuming Ke Chupacabra Director: Grigory Kolomytsev Cinematographer: Alexey Venzos No Man of God Director: Amber Sealey Cinematographer: Karina Silva North Hollywood Director: Mikey Alfred Cinematographer: Ayinde Anderson Son of Monarchs Director: Alexis Gambis Cinematographer: Alejandro Mejia www.britishcinematographer.co.uk
Learn more at cvp.com/creativespace 81 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 4PP
Certain solutions require a special kind of space. C R E AT I V E S PA C E Designed as an exclusive space for networking, workshops and events, this exciting collaboration between CVP and ARRI presents the latest in ARRI technology including the Alexa Mini LF and Signature lenses.
EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2021
Competition
The Mandalorian DP: Baz Idoine ASC
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES COMPETITION Bucolic Director/Cinematographer: Karol Palka A Cop Movie Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios Cinematographer: Emiliano Villanueva
TV SERIES COMPETITION
Faya Dayi Director/Cinematographer: Jessica Beshir
Germinal Director: David Hourrègue Cinematographer: Xavier Dolléans
Kodokushi Director: Ensar Altay Cinematographer: Kursat Uresin
Lisey’s Story: Bool Hunt Director: Pablo Larraín Cinematographer: Darius Khondji
The Last Forest Director: Luiz Bolognesi Cinematographer: Pedro J Márquez
The Mandalorian: Chapter 9 - The Marshal Director: Jon Favreau Cinematographer: Baz Idoine ASC The Queen’s Gambit: Openings Director: Scott Frank Cinematographer: Steven Meizler
Time DP: Mark Wolf
My Voice Will Be with You Director: Bruno Tracq Cinematographer: Tristan Galand
Raven. Darkness Never Ends (Kruk. Czorny woron nie śpi) Director: Maciej Pieprzyca Cinematographer: Witold Płóciennik The Serpent Director: Tom Shankland Cinematographer: Seppe Van Grieken Them: Covenant: Day 1 Director: Nelson Cragg Cinematographer: Checco Varese ASC
Notturno Director/Cinematographer: Gianfranco Rosi
Germinal DP: Xavier Dolléans
Welcome to Utmark: Eye for an Eye (Witamy na odludziu: Oko za oko) Director: Dagur Kári Cinematographer: Andreas Johannessen Autumn Girl (Witamy na odludziu: Oko za oko) Director: Dagur Kári Cinematographer: Andreas Johannessen The Death of Zygielboym (Śmierć Zygielbojma) Director: Ryszard Brylski Cinematographer: Piotr Śliskowski Operation Hyacinth (Hiacynt) Director: Piotr Domalewski Cinematographer: Piotr Sobociński Jr The In-Laws (Teściowie) Director: Kuba Michalczuk Cinematographer: Michał Englert Sonata Director: Bartosz Blaschke Cinematographer: Tomasz Augustynek 18 | Event Guide 2021 | EnergaCAMERMAGE
A Portrait on the Search for Happiness Director: Benjamin Rost Cinematographer: Johannes Greisle Where Are We Headed? Director/Cinematographer: Rusian Fedotow
Time Director: Lewis Arnold Cinematographer: Mark Wolf The Underground Railroad: Chapter 1: Georgia Director: Barry Jenkins Cinematographer: James Laxton ASC
Lost Boys Directors: Sadri Cetinkaya, Joonas Neuvonen Cinematographers: Sadri Cetinkaya, Joonas Neuvonen, Arttu Nieminen, Arsen Sarkisiants
Faya Dayi DP: Jessica Beshir
Also included in the Festival line-up are the Documentary Shorts, Polish Films, and Directors’ Debuts Competitions along with a packed schedule of seminars, panel debates and Q&A sessions. For the complete festival programme, please visit https://camerimage. pl/en/camerimage-2021/program-2021/. n Article by Kevin Hilton
FILMLIGHT COLOUR AWARDS A new addition to the Camerimage schedule, this Award scheme was created by colour grading and management technology specialist FilmLight to recognise the talent and skills of the colourist. The competition is open to all graders, whether they are established or new to the industry, working independently or for a big facility. An international panel of cinematographers and colourists, including Bradford Young ASC, Anthony Dod Mantle DFS BSC ASC, Danny Cohen BSC, Eben Bolter BSC, Shaker Raman, Peter Doyle, Simon Astbury, and Anne Boyle has been assembled to judge hundreds of entries. Explaining the reason for creating the Awards, Wolfgang Lempp, chief executive of FilmLight, said: “The colourist today is far more than a simple ‘colour timer’. When there is a true collaboration with the cinematographer, colourists make a real creative contribution to the feel and the atmosphere of a production. It is exactly this that we are looking to reward.”
www.britishcinematographer.co.uk
Visit ROE Visual at IBC 2021 Hall 9 Stand A04 3-6 December With live GhostFrame demos!
ROE Visual - Proven Technology for Virtual Production LED panels are the ideal solution to portray set and backgrounds created in virtual reality. Creating the right canvas is not just building any LED screen. It’s where the LED panel, processing and camera setting come together that stunning results are achieved. With its high-end manufacturing and premium parts the ROE Visual LED products are perfectly suited for virtual stages and productions. More information on: www.roevisual.com
Photo: 80six
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