David Lynch’s first Polish official Press conference and the screenings of excellent main competition films - ‘Babel’ with the photography by Rodrigo Prieto and ‘Days of Glory’ with the photography by Tom Stern, were the main events of the CAMERIMAGE fourth day [28.11.]. Justin Theroux, famous for "Inland Empire and "Miami Vice" met with internet-users and Robby Muller - the winner of the Golden Frog for Life Achievement 2006 - with the students.

The conference with Lynch was an exceptional event as the director consequently for a few years avoided this form of contact with the journalists during the festival. Tuesday’s conference was therefore the first opportunity for the journalists to ask the Hollywood Master the questions without any restrictions. The director confessed that he would like to have in Lodz “a little apartment with a fridge and bed", he also said that Karolina Gruszka may in the nearest future become a worldwide famous actress. During the conference the journalists could also talk to the creators of ‘Homesick’: Harri Räty (cinematographer) and Petri Kotwica (director).

The first of this day’s competition films was ‘Babel’ [photo. Rodrigo Prieto]. It’s one of the most important festival films, another masterpiece by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The film in the most surprising ways combines the life stories of people who are joined by an accidental gun shot from an old rifle in a God-forgotten Moroccan helmet. It complicates the lives of an American woman, a Japanese teenager and a few Moroccans and Tunisians. The new story by the author of ‘Amores Perros’ is a modern paraphrase of a myth about Babel tower building, proving that since the biblical times, unfortunately, we have not moved an inch in the quest for mutual understanding.

Another films fighting for the main CAMERIMAGE prizes were "Franz and Polina" [photo. Maxim Trapo] and "The Flags of Our Fathers" [photo. Tom Stern]. Both films are set in the reality of WWII. The Russian picture by Mikhaila Regal takes us to Byelorussia of 1943. To a small village arrives a SS troop with an order of putting it to fire. The order is withheld and the solders settle in the village. They become the guests of those who they were supposed to destroy. One of them - Franz, falls in love with a young Byelarussian - Polina.

‘The Flags of Our Fathers’ is another directorial work of the great Clint Eastwood. The year 1944. Six American soldiers stick a poke with an American flag on the top of the mountain Suribach towering over a Japanese island Iwo. The photo commemorating that moment became a symbol of American triumph in the war on the Pacific. Eastwood’s film, however, does not speak of the soldiers’ patriotic upheavals but reveals how immense is the difference between the beauty of a myth and symbol and the brutal truth of people wagging with one another a bloody life and death war.

As a part of Polish competition the audience saw an excellent film by Michał Rosa "What sun has seen" [photo. Andrzej Szulkowski, Bartłomiej Kaczmarek]. The film tells a story about three not knowing each other people: a little Sebastian, a teenage girl Marta and a 50 years old Józef. Each of them is forced to get in a limited a time a small but at that point unreachable amount of money. Three parallel and inter-tangled life stories of people who with a determination are struggling with the everyday reality not to lose their dignity, to change their lives and protect the dreams. The stories are not authentic and the script has been written on the basis of some notes form the newspapers and the police reports.

An important event closing Tuesday’s screenings was a film "Cinematographer Style". The documentary by Jon Fauer is an attempt to deeply analyze the art. And craftsmanship of cinematography. The author interviewed 110 cinematographers from 15 countries working In various sectors of the film industry. Thus created picture gives an average viewer a chance to understand the art of a picture creation and film production.

Another documentary by the great cinematographer screened on Tuesday as a special show was "Who needs sleep?" [photo. Haskell Wexler, Alan Barker, Joan Churchill, Tamara Goldsworthy, Kevin Mckiernan, Rita Taggart]. The author of this film is Haskell Wexler himself, three times nominated and twice awarded an Academy Reward for cinematography ["Bound for Glory", "Who is Afraid of Virginia Wolf?"]. In 1997 Wexler was awarded a Golden Frog for Life Achievements. The film treats of Americans’ problem with insomnia and the changes in the society stemming from 24 hour work system.

On Tuesday we have also seen: Finish "Homesick", [dir. Petri Kotwica; photo. Harri Räty; European débuts competition] and In Charlie cinema: German "Requiem" photo: Bogumiła Godfrejowa, Bergman’s "Silence" "All about love" by Vinterberg and Swedish "Zozo". German "Emma’s Buss" and "Happy As One". In Silver Screen cinema, among many: "Thicker Than Water".

It is worth to remind about the Robby Muller’s retrospective which is being run in Charlie cinema. On Tuesday, the audience have seen another of his films "The American Friend". At this year Camerimage Robby Müller will receive the Prize for the achievements. As a cinematographer he has cooperated with such directors as Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Lars von Trier. Among many of his films, there are such as "Ghost Dog", "Breaking the Waves" or "Dancing in the Darkness". The artist has met with the students of international film schools.

There have also been a few seminars and workshops. An Irish cinematographer Seamus McGarvey ["Enigma", "Sahara"] has run his own seminar while in Film Studio OPUS a practical workshop run by Start Harris, Panavision, took place. In the Grand Theatre the presentations were organized by Technicolor, Grass Valley and Floatcam Pro.

Stopklatka.pl has run another chat with an American actor Justin Theroux, the star of screened in Lodz "Inland Empire". During the meeting we got to know what he thinks about his role in "Miami Vice" and Americans participation In the military intervention In Iraq.

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DAVID LYNCH

Press conference.

Lynch shared his opinion on "Inland Empire", which the audience had an opportunity to see during the his year CAMERIMAGE Opening Ceremony, about the filming as such, Lodz and the festival. "Camerimage is for me an important event" he underlined. Asked if he would like to live in Lodz he said: “I would like to have in Lodz a little apartment with a fridge and bed". He also praised Karolina Gruszka, Krzysztof Majchrzak and Peter J. Lucas, claiming that they are great actors and Gruszka may in the nearest future become a worldwide acclaimed actress. During the conference someone asked about the Lynch’s “method" for creating a film. At the beginning there is nothingness then the ideas emerge which I write down and then work on"

He also touched upon the issue of The Centre of Word Art creation in Lodz. He gave an outline of the project and declared that he would like to build not only a place where the art can be watched but be also created. Going back to his Monday’s declaration that he will deal exclusively with digital cinema, Lynch emphasized how easy it is to create and watch films thanks to the digital. He spoke about the incredible technological development which makes the film production possible only with a help of a few friends and cheap but good equipment. “That all makes it much easier to become an independent film maker not only in the US" - he added as a comment to his having become an independent film maker.

JUSTIN THEROUX - I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO "MIAMI VICE"

Justin Theroux was born and brought up in Washington. After moving to New York he started a career on the stages of the Broadway theatres. In 1996 he made a debut on the big screen in "I Shot Andy Warhol". Then he appeared, among many, in. "American Psycho", "Mulholland Drive", "Zoolander", "Nowhere to Go But Up", "Miami Vice" and "Inland Empire". In 2006 he made his debut as a director of "Dedication".

Asked about how it is to work with such an eccentric director as Lynch, he said: “Working with David is much more interesting than with other directors because even if you have a script you still don’t know what the film is about". Theroux also gave an answer to the question if commonly regarded as the most ungraspable Lynch’s work "Inland Empire" is a film understandable to him: “Yes and no. It’s like with jazz. Can we say, for example, that we understand Davis? It’s only abort pop songs that you can say you understand them. We cannot say so about this film. When John Coltrane started to make music everyone claimd him mad. It was similar with Lynch’s movies". The actor also confesses his lasting love to the theatre: "Theatre bring more satisfaction because every evening you impersonate a character. It’s like a lavish dinner every night. Film is different because you work not chronologically for many months. When you put it together it may turn out to be poor". He described as “bad" his role In Miami Vice, and American intervention In Iraq He called "The most stupid thing USA have ever done". He also said he has been interested in Poland since his childhood when his mother, a "Washington Post" journalists, making relations on the creation of "Solidarnoś" told him about this country.

WE ARE STONY-BROKE

The conference with the makers of "Homesick" Harri Räty and Petr Kotwica.

Asked about the script, the director said: “In this story is hidden my personal message - my mother was an alcoholic and he drunk herself dead. I had a lot of internal anger while working on this movie. In my opinion a film has to consist of some elements of truth, of the real life" The director explained whay the photography is in the colour of sephia. “We meant to make this sad story a bit less real and more like a fairy tale. If we shot it in bright colours it would be to depressing. On the other hand, we wanted to show the ugliness of life, that why the film is hand-shot, we also made use of an intensive light.It is the first film for both the artists: “We spend a lot of time discussing. Herri is very diligent. He is also honest, even brutal towards some of the ideas. Also her every day we spend some time discussing the ideas for the new film which we will be shooting in January " said Kotwica Finish artists declared that they have nothing in common with so called “film industry“. We are not a part of it at all. We are two guys short of money and we put all our soul to work on a film. It’s not money that is important in a film, what is important is not to spend more than you have: - Harri Raty added.

I LIKE TO IMPROVISE

Meeting with Robby Müller.

Robby Müller have been working with such directors as: Wim Wenders, Hans Geissendorfer, Peter Bogdanovich, Jerry Schatzberg, Jim Jarmusch and Larsa von Trier. He is one of the most acclaimed cinematographer, famous mostly for his work on the independent and low-budget productions.This year he will be handed by Wim Weneders The Golden Frog CAMERIMAGE for Life Achievements. The beginning of the meeting was devoted to the issue of improvisation during the pictures shooting. As an example was given a famous “Coffee and cigarettes". The artist claimed that he likes to improvise but he always has in his head a plan that he does not reveal. Then Müller told about his preferences Chile working on the cinematography. He emphasized that above all He appreciates the simplicity. “The simplest solutions give the best results" he said. As an example he gave the methods of lighting the mis en scene that he employs and which are based on the simple rule: “Too many lamps interrupt". The artist prefers the natural lighting. As he said he started his work in the 60s. His educations took place In the era of white and black movie. That may be why today he mostly appreciate working on black and white productions.