Already for the ninth time CAMERIMAGE has successfully closed. With extreme joy we would like to share with you the first hand account on what happened in Łódź, Poland between 1-8 December. Polish Prime Minister, the Local Authorities, Polish Ministry of Culture and the President of Polish State Film Committee honoured us with their patronage upon the event. At this point it is crucial to pay special recognition to our sponsors who made CAMERIMAGE 2001 happen. For this exceptional occasion we utter effusive "thank you" towards distributors, producers, associations and private people without who the Festival would be deprived of substantial part of its celebrity. Thank you all !!!

The International Jury composed of: Jorg Schmidt - Reitwein, Robert Fraisse, Phedon Papamichael, Sean Bobbitt and presided by Roger Deakins spent seven hard days watching and judging 14 films presented in this part: MULHOLLAND DRIVE - USA Cinematographer - Peter Deming Director - David Lynch DESERT MOON - JAPAN Cinematographer - Tamra Masaki Director - Aoyama Shinji HEARTS IN ATLANTIS - USA Cinematographer - Piotr Sobociński Director - Scott Hicks BUFFALO SOLDIERS - UK, USA, GERMANY Cinematographer - Oliver Stapleton Director - Gregor Jordan THE WARRIOR - ENGLAND, INDIA Cinematographer - Roman Osin Director - Asif Kapadia THE STREETERS - MEXICO Cinematographer - Hector Ortega Director - Gerardo Tort ANGELUS - POLAND Cinematographer - Adam Sikora Director - Lech Majewski NO MAN'S LAND - FRANCE, ITALY, BELGIUM, SLOVENIA, UK Cinematographer - Walther Vanden Ende Director - Danis Tanovic SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE - USA, UK, LUXEMBOURG Cinematographer - Lou Bouge Director - Elias Merhiage L'AMOUR, L'ARGENT, L'AMOUR - GERMANY Cinematographers - Sophie Maintigneux, Max Jonathan Silberstein Director - Philip Gröning KITES OVER HELSINKI - FINLAND Cinematographer - Kjell Lagerroos Director - Peter Lindholm THE PROFESSION OF ARMS - ITALY Cinematographer - Fabio Olmi Director - Ermanno Olmi THE PIANO TEACHER - AUSTRIA, FRANCE Cinematographer - Christian Berger Director - Michael Haneke KING IS DANCING - FRANCE Cinematographer - Gerard Simon Director - Gerard Corbiau The cinematographers competed for Golden, Silver and Bronze Frog. At the Closing Ceremony, Dec. 8th, the Jury made their decision public and the awards went to: In this part of the Festival it is the audience who chooses their favourite. Seven films, from different parts of the Europe, struggled for the trophy: HI, TERESKA - POLAND Cinematographer - Petro Aleksowski Director - Robert Gliński MR. IN-BETWEEN - ENGLAND Cinematographer - Haris Zambarloukos Director - Paul Sarrosy REQUIEM - POLAND Cinematographer - Zbigniew Wichłacz Director - Witold Leszczyński SEA, THE - SPAIN Cinematographer - Jaume Peracaula Director - Agusti Villaronga SPRING OF LIVE, THE - CZECH REPUBLIC Cinematographer - Marek Jicha Director - Milan Cieslar WILD FLOWERS - CZECH REPUBLIC Cinematographer - F.A. Brabec Director - F.A. Brabec ZOOKEEPER, THE - CZECH REPUBLIC, DENMARK Cinematographer - Piotr Kukla Director - Ralph Ziman There were three screenings that were not incorporated into any regular Festival section, and were presented in regard to their visual merits: DAS BOOT - GERMANY Cinematographer - Jost Vacano Director - Wolfgang Petersen THE MIRACULOUS MANDARIN - HUNGARY Cinematographer - Piotr Wojtowicz Director - Marta Meszaros THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE - UK, USA Cinematographer - Roger Deakins Director - Joel Coen Though the distinctive character, this part drew enormous attention of both the Festival guests and the audience in particular. This year's Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award went to one of the greatest cinematographers Owen Roizman, A.S.C. The Retrospective was a parallel section where some of Owen Roizman's most illustrious films were presented: The French Connection - directed by William Friedkin The Exorcist (2000) - directed by William Friedkin Wyatt Earp - directed by Larry Kasdan True Confessions - directed by Ulu Grosbard Grand Canyon - directed by Larry Kasdan Three Days of the Condor - directed by Sydney Pollack The "Frog embodied" Award was granted to Mr Roizman during the Closing Ceremony on Saturday, December 8th. At this extremely glorious event we witnessed the unique scene of Vittorio Storaro, Vilmos Zsigmond and Billy Williams granting the Award to Owen Roizman. Sydney Pollack, Roizman's close friend, having not been able to attend the gala, sent a very warm letter to be read out in public and in a sense mark his presence at this momentous Ceremony. Festival attracting professional cinematographers is as well tempting for students. The particular character of CAMERIMAGE gave them another chance of active participation in the event just shoulder to shoulder with their masters. Students presented their short works to the audience but certainly the most thrilling aspect for them was the fact that their films were judged by the same International Jury with special presence of John Mathieson. Students, representing almost 30 Schools from more than 20 countries, showed 18 films in the Competition and 22 in the World Panorama. The shorts competed for Golden, Silver and Bronze Tadpole. Together with Opus Film Studio from Łódź we prepared professional workshops, where students had the exceptional opportunity to see the masters of vision at home revealing the secrets of their craft and talking about their experiences. The workshops attracted more then 400 students each time. On the first-day-workshops students spent exciting hours with Owen Roizman (working with Panavision camera) and Billy Williams following the next day. A few days passed and in one of Łódź cinemas Billy Williams' workshops were presented as a documentary. Also Arri Lighting Workshops were arranged to show students Oliver Stapleton and John Mathieson playing the light and shadow game. This year's workshops were incomparable in size to those from the past. Two words are enough to describe the results - absolute victory and applause. The students as well as the regular audience had the chance to attend engaging seminars by Paul Mazursky, Jost Vacano, Vittorio Storaro, John Mathieson, Andrzej Wajda and Roman Osin. Also some special presentations were to be seen:

• Kodak - Future Filmmaking Seminar
• ARRI - Arricam System Exclusive Presentation
• Digital Lab Seminar
• Orka - Special Effects Presentation
• Nagra - Recording Equipment Presentation
• Sachtler - Equipment Presentation
• Panther - Equipment Presentation

Honoris Causa Doctorate of Lodz Film School was granted to the great master of light - Vittorio Storaro. That was the first doctorate in the school's history ever granted to a cinematographer. Tribute to Piotr Sobociński In co-operation with the Museum of Film and Lodz Film School, to pay an honour to our beloved friend, we organised Tribute to Piotr Sobociński. On Sunday, December 2nd in Piotrkowska Street, the Star Alley in Lodz, new one - Piotr Sobociński's Star had its unveiling. Furthermore, during the Festival the audience had a chance to see some of his previous and latest films in the Retrospective:

• Hearts in Atlantis
• The Rat Catcher
• Three Colours: Red
• The Seventh Room
• Ransom
• Angel Eyes

This exceptional idea within the Festival has created, from now on, the possibility of having Piotr with us for all future CAMERIMAGE editions. To sum up, the IX edition of the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography - CAMERIMAGE was very successful. More than 20 000 Lodz inhabitants visited the Festival Centre within the Festival week. We have also hosted over 700 students and about 200 cinematographers from all over the world. We find it noteworthy that almost each film, both in Competition, World Panorama and Special Screenings, had at least cinematographer or director present. We were given the favour to spend wonderful time with the greatest of the movie industry, who accepted our invitation to come to Poland just to be part of CAMERIMAGE's magic atmosphere. The City of Lodz, for the second time, was the witness of the film celebration and hosted such great personalities as: Joel Coen, Paul Mazursky, Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Żuławski, Robert Gliński, Asif Kapadia, John Malkovich, Vittorio Storaro, Owen Roizman, Billy Williams, Roger Deakins, Vilmos Zsigmond, Tibor Vagyoczky, Robert Fraisse, Jorg Schmidt - Reitwein, Phedon Papamichael, Sean Bobbitt, John Mathieson, Jost Vacano, Wolfgang Treu, Oliver Stapleton, Witold Sobociński, Zbigniew Wichłacz, Adam Sikora, Petro Aleksowski, Piotr Kukla, Roman Osin, Haris Zambarloukos, Hector Ortega, Walther Vanden Ende, Septimu Moraru, Kjell Lagerroos, Philip Ogaard, Fabio Olmi, Christian Berger, Gerard Simon, Robert Alazraki, Rudiger Leske and many, many others, whose names are not imprinted in CAMERIMAGE's records, but definitely CAMERIMAGE has been engraved in their hearts.