Night time. A storied house filling the whole frame. A lone shadow materializing from the right. Walt Kowalski walks into the light, revealing himself on the front yard of an Asian gang den. Several armed hustlers respond to his presence and show their strength by pointing their loaded guns at him. Everything is shown with just a few interwoven shots. Kowalski provokes his adversaries, insulting them and calling them names, and they fall into his trap. Even with big guns extending their arms, they are mentally weak. Nothing changes in terms of the number of shots. Finally, Kowalski makes his move by reaching to his jacket, the pace of cutting accelerates, though there is also slow motion - and the whole scene suddenly becomes something completely different. We can see now what was never said or shown directly - the true Walt Kowalski. Final sequences of Clint Eastwood'sGran Torino are the best possible lesson of editing mastery, tact and intuition of Joel Cox. Having used diametrically different means, he was able to create a scene that combined emotional intelligence and growing suspense, at the same time summing up perfectly the journey that the protagonist went through.

We are pleased to announce that Joel Cox is this year's recipient of Camerimage Award for Editor with Unique Visual Sensitivity. The award will be presented on Saturday, during the Closing Gala of Camerimage Festival.

The beginning of Joel Cox's career was unusual. The future editor and Oscar-winner was one-year-old, when he appeared in Mervyn LeRoy'sRandom Harvest. Fortunately, the future editor of Unforgiven, Mystic River and Gran Torino hadn't taken up acting, for the world of cinema would lose one of the best and most sensitive members of the editor profession. Joel Cox is an editor who is always able to reveal an element of goodness in a tough guy's heart or depict the darkness of soul of some distinguished member of society. In his twenties, he joined Warner Bros., initially as a mail-room boy. He has been with the company ever since. His first editing experience was assisting Lou Lombardo in the editing process of The Wild Bunch and Barry Malkin in Francis Ford Coppola'sThe Rain People. Subsequently, he could work with his idols - editors Walter Thompson (Dick Richards' Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins) and Ferris Webster (Clint Eastwood'sThe Outlaw Josey Wales). The latter was a breakthrough in his career.

Since The Outlaw Josey WalesJoel Cox has edited more than thirty Clint Eastwood's films, often working on the movies in which he only acted (Sondra Locke'sRatboy, Buddy Van Horn'sPink Cadillac). He has helped the legendary American director to continue the story of Dirty Harry in Sudden Impact, re-define some of the rules of the western genre in Pale Rider and Unforgiven, tackle the difficult subject of war (Heartbreak Ridge and Flags of our Fathers), break stereotypes concerning masculinity (The Bridges of Madison County or Gran Torino). Together they have discovered some new ways of telling a crime drama story (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), reflected upon mortality and death (Million Dollar Baby), revealed difficult themes of the American history (J. Edgar) and asked questions about the other world (Hereafter), the power of motherly love (Changeling) and the meaning of true friendship (Space Cowboys). Thanks to Eastwood's films Cox could flourish as an editor. He mastered and refined his skills so that he can go dark in terms of mood or be inspirational with depicting small joys of human life. For his work on Unforgiven he won his Oscar.

Joel Cox is a true master of his craft and his greatest asset is that he always supplements what exists on the given set and uses the means available not to show off, but simply to tell an interesting story.

The organizers of the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography CAMERIMAGE, with its 21st edition being currently held in Bydgoszcz, will be honored to merit such a great filmmaker with our Award for Editor with Unique Visual Sensivity. Joel Cox will meet the Festival goers on Friday, 22nd of November at 17:30 in Opera Nova Congress Centre, Conference Room, 3rd Floor. Later in the evening, at 22:00 in Multikino, Screening Room No 10, he will introduce his film Prisoners (directed by Denis Villeneuve) in person to the Festival's audience.