by Lars Pettersson FSF
Between the 10th and 17th of November the 26th edition of the Camerimage International film Festival took place in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Boasting almost 300 film screenings and close to 100 seminars and workshops, the Camerimage festival is such an embarrassment of riches for the cineaste that it is obviously impossible for one person to absorb it all. Here are some impressions and observations.
| Dan Hammond, Panavision Hollywood, with vintage Ultra Panavision prime lens |
Opera Nova is the magnificent Opera House that houses at Camerimage and all its activities, including the extensive manufacturers
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| The Panavision booth |
exhibition that fills the second floor to capacity – but the film festival is also distributed over many other locations all over Bydgoszsc! At Opera Nova there is furious activity spread out over several auditoriums where seminars, Q&As and Master Classes are held.
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| One such Masterclass centers on a panel discussion featuring distinguished cinematographers from the AFC, the French Society of cinematographers. It is moderated by renowned cinema journalist Benjamin B – of www.thefilmbook.com. who can be seen here demonstrating a Joker 400/800 spotlight from french company K5600 |
Another interesting seminar was hosted by Sony – represented by Sebastian Leske – and Netflix, and showcased the Sony Venice camera and it’s performance on the shoot of a recent Polish TV production as well as on a very special documentary shot by Norwegian cinematographer Sven-Erling Brusletto in Greenland with Cooke anamorphic lenses. Brusletto had also used a Sony E-mount 24 – 70 mm zoom on this documentary and it produced stunning images while yet being very small and compact in size. One area in which the Sony Venice camera received a lot of praise was the fact that the camera is ready to record a mere 7 seconds after you flip it’s main switch on – a very useful feature when shooting a documentary.
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| Luc Bara leaning on a Varicam Pure camera in the Panasonic booth. All posters in the background are productions shot on various versions of the Varicam (35, LT etc). |
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| From Sweden, Sophia Olsson, FSF, Linus Sandgren, FSF, and Alex Lindén, FSF. Linus was here representing the film ”First Man” in the main event competition, and Sophia represented the film ”The Charmer”, competing in the Baltic Cinema Review. |
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The Camerimage festival was rounded off with an impressive closing ceremony on Saturday 17th, during which Marek Żydowicz, the festivals president, held a rousing and passionate speech, stressing the mounting difficulties that the arrangers face in putting together the festival. The reverberations of this speech continued to inspire further discussion among the festival guests as we all set out to return home to our respective countries, as keeping the Camerimage festival healthy and running well is a top priority for the international community of cinematographers.
