Cinematographers honoured in Łódź

by Dorota Hartwich

04/12/2006 - Poland is certainly ending 2006 in style, first with the European Film Academy awards ceremony in Warsaw on Saturday and then the 14th Camerimage Festival 2006 (November 25-December 3), which was particularly packed with films this year and well attended by cinema professionals.

The 19 films selected in competition at the major international festival, which honours cinematographers from the world over (138 films, five competitions, 50 seminars, conferences and workshops), were voted on by a jury that included renowned DoPs: Michael Chapman (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), Ryszard Lenczewski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love), Peter Levy (Broken Arrow, Lost In Space), Bruno Delbonnel (Amélie, Infamous), Phil Meheux (Casino Royale [trailer], Legend of Zorro) and Denis Lenoir (Carrington, Control).

The grand prize, the Golden Frog, went to Guillermo Navarro, DoP on Pan’s Labyrinth [trailer] by Guillermo Del Toro. The title is the Mexican contender for the upcoming Oscars and Golden Globe nominations. This fantastic vision of reality under Franco’s dictatorship was without doubt one of the most hotly-tipped titles since the beginning of the festival.

The jury awarded its runner-up prize, the Silver Frog, to Dick Pope. The Camerimage award is well known to the DoP of Neil Burger’s The Illusionist, having already won the title three times: two Golden Frogs (for Mike Leigh’s Secrets And Lies in 1996 and Vera Drake [trailer] in 2004) and the Director and DoP duo prize with Leigh for 1999’s Topsy-Turvy .

The Bronze Frog went to Ricardo Della Rosa, cinematographer for Brazilian drama House of the Sand (Casa de Areia) by Andrucha Waddington.

List of 2006 Camerimage awards

Golden Frog : Guillermo Navarro for Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro

Silver Frog: Dick Pope for The Illusionist by Neil Burger

Bronze Frog: Ricardo Della Rosa for House of the Sand (Casa de Areia) by Andrucha Waddington

Polish Film Competition : Plac Zbawiciela (Saviour's Square), photo. Wojciech Staroń, dir. Krzysztof Krauze, Joanna Kos-Krauze

First films competition : The Cave of the Yellow Dog (Die Hohle des gelben Hundes) photo. Daniel Schonauer, dir. Byambasuren Davaa

Lifetime Achievement Award: Robby Muller

Award to Director and DoP duo: Tom Tykwer – Frank Griebe

Lifetime Achievement Award – Director – Unique Visual Sensibility: Ken Russell

Award to Director with Unique Visual Sensibility: Istvan Szabo

Polish Cinematographer Award – Contribution to World Cinema: Andrzej Bartkowiak

Lifetime Achievement Award – Production Designer – Unique Visual Sensibility: Dante Ferretti

Award to Production Designer with Unique Visual Sensibility: John Myhre

Special Camerimage Award (musical clip and advertising): Daniel Pearl

Special Innovation Award: David Samuelson

Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Acting: Julia Ormond

Special Camerimage Award: Stowarzyszenie Filmowców Polskich (The Association of Polish Filmmakers)

(Translated from French)