Third day of 14th edition of Camerimage

Screening of Pan’s Labyrinth and David Lynch’s Internet chat were the most important events of the third day of Camerimage 2006. The Guillermo Del Toro’s movie with Guillermo Navarro’s photography was one of the most looked forward screenings at CAMERIMAGE. The chat with the creator of Twin Peaks seems to be a historical event since it is the first direct meeting of Lynch with movie fans in Poland. It is all the more important, since Lynch announced final abandoning of traditional filming techniques in favor of digital ones. Monday was also rich with outstanding movies, conferences and workshops. The day’s program was concluded by the opening of exhibition of paintings by… Juliette Binoche, in the Museum of Cinematography.

The chat with David Lynch was a meeting with a living movie icon, whose films can be hard in reception, but at the same time arouse many extreme emotions. He is loved or non-understandable, and these reactions could be seen also after the screening of his latest movie, Inland Empire. The director is a great friend of the Camerimage Film Festival and the Polish premiere of his latest movie at Camerimage was a significant event. The screening caused vivid discussions - the audience is still trying to find a proper interpretation of this story. David Lynch has created such movies, as Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Wild at Heart and Mulholland Drive. He became popular after the Twin Peaks series. This is the fragment of the online conversation of Stopklatka visitors with David Lynch at CAMERIMAGE. Lynch wrote: “I consider myself a man who comes up with ideas and then realizes them." He also announced his will to definitely abandon traditional techniques of filming. Asked about origins of his ideas, he said: “It is never a complete picture. It starts with one, two ideas, which I fall in love with and develop." He also amused the interlocutors with his answer to a question, why did he use a cow in the advertising campaign for Inland Empire. “People love cows," he said peacefully.

David Lynch’s chat was not the only open discussion with Internet visitors that day. Earlier also Guillermo Navarro, the cinematographer of Pan’s Labyrinth was answering their questions. This Mexican cinematographer is a close collaborator of Guillermo Del Toro, with whom he worked also on Cronos, Hellboy and Devil’s Backbone. The cinematographer is just preparing for work on Hellboy 2. He has worked also on Desperado, Four Rooms, From Dusk till Dawn, Spawn, Stuart the Little, Jackie Brown or Zathura.

About Pan’s Labyrinth he said: “I love this movie. It reminds me the reason for which I like making films. I was allowed to create a story taking place both in Spain and in a fantasy space. There comes a moment, when the two stories merge and eventually become one. The movie let me express an opinion, that a picture is a grammar of a story being told. It is a very strong movie, you have to see it!" Pan’s Labyrinth received a long ovation. This amazing, imaginative story has been praised as one of the most important of recent fantasy movies both by the audience and the critics. It is the Mexican candidate for Oscars, and was shown at this year Cannes Festival. Asked about his impression of Camerimage, Navarro emphasized that it is “the only festival making an annual meeting of cinematographers and exchange of experiences possible, a unique phenomenon, which should definitely last".

At the same time OPUS Film Studio hosted workshops by ARRI, Lighting with Paint and Lights, lead by Jon Fauer, and The Super 16 Renaissance, led by Mark Shipman-Mueller, Christoph Chassee and Jon Fauer (see below). Grand Theatre hosted presentation by Finnlight lighting company and the outstanding American cinematographer, Nancy Schreiber met with film school students.

On Monday also an important media event took place. It was the press conference of the Main Competition Jury. For the first time the international jury revealed the rules of selecting the winner of the Golden Frog Award. It should be mentioned again, that this year’s jury gathers makers of such movies, as Casino Royale, Goldeneye or The Mask of Zorro, as well as the classics, such as Taxi Driver.

Also various other press conferences took place: with makers of Chaos - Marian Prokop (cinematographer) and Xawery Żuławski (director), Maria Strzelecka and Marcin Brzozowski (actors); makers of Even Money, Robbie Greenberg (cinematographer) and Mark Rydell (director), as well as Bogumił Godfrejow (Retrieval) and Guillermo Navarro.

On 4 festival screens the audience watched also other competition films: House of Sand (cin. Ricardo Della Rosa) form Brazil and Even Money (cin. Robbie Greenberg). European Debut section included Polish Chaos (cin. Marian Prokop), Retrieval (cin. Bogumił Godfrejow), and Christopher’s Nolan Prestige (cin. Wally Pfister) with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale.

In Charlie cinema Lukas Moodysson’s Container was screened (cin. J. Kurlandsky), and it was without any doubt one of the most important screenings of the day. It was a part of the Swedish Film Review. Also Danish Film Review continued (Dogville), together with Nykvist-Bergman retrospective (Persona). Breaking the waves was a part of Robbie Muller Retrospective.

On Monday also screenings in Silver Screen launched. They started with The Cave of the Yellow Dog and Kissed by Winter, being parts of the European Debut Competition. The most interesting of Silver Screen movies was Fade to Black (cin. John de Borman, dir. Oliver Parker). The movie tells a story of Orson Welles arrival to Italy in 1948. Welles comes here to play a role in a movie and recover after his parting with Rita Hayworth. Surprisingly one of the actors dies. The police think it is a suicide, but Welles does not believe it. He discovers a network of intrigues, corruption and murders.

Also the special screening of a promising director - Rafał Kapelinski’s - Emily Cries should be mentioned. The movie has won the independent competition at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. Paweł Dyllus was the cinematographer.

Details:

THE MAIN COMPETITION JURY PRESS CONFERENCE

19 movies included in the main competition of this year’s Camerimage have been selected from 300 sent for the selection. The final set of titles is evaluated by a jury with: Ryszard Lenczewski, Phil Meheux, Bruno Delbonell, Michael Chapman and Peter Levy. Each of the jurors explained his own criteria of selecting the best movie. Ryszard Lenczewski wants to focus on emotions of the image, then search for “intellectual experience", and then come back to emotions. Other members of the jury agreed, that for them the most important feature would be non-flashy fitting of cinematography to the story. The jury also answered questions related to filmmaking techniques and their own professional preferences. Michael Chapman emphasized, that cinematography should never dominate the movie itself. “The image should be fitted to requirements. We cannot allow a situation, in which the audience notices only the photography. The film must be considered a complete piece. Thus it must not be overloaded with photography" - he said.

Lenczewski quoted Sven Nykvist here: “no matter which lamp is on, it matters which should be turned on".

Also the issue of contemporary technical postproduction achievements was mentioned. The fact that today different versions of the same movie can be created and the producer may do virtually everything with the image without consulting the cinematographer really worries the jurors. They mentioned that they feel the threat from digital techniques. Digital processing can completely distort the effect of their work and radically change the visual concept of the movie created by them.

YELLOW - GREEN FILTER

Conference with Bogumil Godfrejow, the cinematographer of "Retrieval", and the producers Piotr Dzieciol and Łukasz Dzieciol.

Bogumil Godfrejow is one of the highest hopes for the Polish cinematography. He has been already nominated to Oscar and Felix. The cinematographer talked about the technical issues related to moviemaking. In the process he used strong yellow and green filters, usually typical for black and white film. “Such filtering was a kind of an experiment, and it allowed us to achieve the effect of ‘70s/’80s movie - Godfrejow said. It turned out that the director was really careful about the cinematographer’s ideas.

“The more I wanted to experiment with the filters, the more Slawek opposed it" - joked Godfrejow. Piotr Dzieciol, the producer, explained the reasons for which he decided to produce Retrieval. “Considering the earlier successes of the creators (the duo Fabicki - Godfrejow has worked on many films, including the Oscar nominated A Man Thing) and the concept of this movie I was certain it will be a success. Opus Film Studio produces mainly films by young filmmakers and while establishing the company I did not assume such exclusiveness, it turned out that the most interesting ideas come form them" - said Dzieciol.

Workshops and presentations: FINNLIGHT PRESENTATION

Bruce Finn’s presentation took place in the seminar room. It covered his latest lighting equipment. Bruce presented a set of lamps he has created. Its advantages are small weight, portability and potential to quickly change the intensity of light and color. As Finn said: “Lamps are like brushes, they let you show the most beautiful components of each scene."

Workshops and presentations: ARRI WORKSHOP “LIGHTING WITH PAINT (AND LIGHTS)"

The meeting was lead by Jon Fauer. Fauer made an interesting experiment. He presented the paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci "Lady with an Ermine", by Rembrandt: "Portrait" and Peter de Hooch’s “Mother", and then showed young cinematographers the way to light a person to achieve the lighting effect identical to the one on the painting. The second part belonged to students, who were able to test Fauer’s advices in practice and learn the way of operating light and camera to achieve a specific effect.

FIVE YEARS OF “CHAOS"

Press conference of makers of "Chaos"

Except the director - Xawery Zuławski, and the cinematographer - Marian Prokop, the participants of the conference could talk to the leading actors - Maria Strzelecka and Marcin Brzozowski.

The journalists were interested in the five-year history, from the beginning of shooting to the theatrical premiere. Zuławski talked about the problems of financing the movie. He emphasized, that the script is a closed vision, and despite the five years of production he has not introduced any changes into the movie. Strzelecka said the scenes were shot in the order opposite to their appearance on the screen, and the last ones were shot as the first ones: “We shot the last scenes a long time ago, when I was a teenager. The ones in which I am sixteen years old were shot when I was already a mother and more adult" - she added. Brzozowski emphasized, that a lot has changed in his life during these 5 years, independently from the shooting, and when he was finishing, he was already a totally different man.

LIMIT OF RISK

Press conference with Robbie Greenberg (cinematographer) and Mark Rydell (director), makers of “Even Money".

Robbie Greenberg, a winner of Emmy award, has collaborated with Robert Redford, among others. Mark Rydell, the director of the movie, Oscar nominee for On Golden Pond was also a special guest at CAMERIMAGE. The creators of the movie focused on the limit of risk one would cross to achieve the goal. This is a story about hazard addicts. As Rydell said: “We used hazard as a metaphor of risk. One should never risk more than he is able to loose". Multiple plots include three related stories. Mark Rydell has come up with this idea inspired by his friend and collaborator, Robert Altman.

The journalists asked about this friendship with Altman, who passed a few days before Camerimage started. Rydell could not hide his emotions: “He has revolutionized Hollywood, never succumbed to its main trends and tried to stay independent in what he did". Greenberg and Rydell thanked for the invitation to a panel discussion evaluating Polish cinema: “We are glad to be here, since we can gain new knowledge about different cultures and points of view."

Special event: JULIETTE BINOCHE - PAINTING and JULIETTE BINOCHE PHOTOGRAPHED BY HER SISTER, MARION STALENS

Juliette Binoche: famous movie star. Born in 1964 in Paris. A daughter of an actress and director, Monique Stalens and a sculptor, Jean-Marie Binoche, a sister of Marion Stalens. Her first significant role was Tereza in Philip Kaufman’s Unbearable Lightness of Being. Then other roles followed: supporting role in The English Patient (dir. Anthony Minghella), awarded with Oscar and Silver Bear, a role in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colors: Blue (awarded with Cesar and in Venice) and the role in Lasse Halstrom’s Chocolat, awarded with Golden Globe and Oscar. This time Binoche appears at Camerimage as… a painter.

When asked by a journalist of a French paper Liberation about the origin of her paintings, she answered: “Painting comes from movement and silence. It is a part of my life, just like acting. It is also a desire for movement. The only difference: painting is solitary, while being and actress means being a co-creator. Even if you badly need somebody close to you, painting is like a safety valve. When I started my movie carrier - twenty years ago - my dream of being among people was stronger. Today it is solitude that helps me. A film is a shared pride, while relation with painting is more intimate."

In the Museum of Cinematography 30 paintings were shown, including the portraits of her family and her self-portrait. Poland is the first country, except France, where Juliette Binoche’s paintings are presented. The exhibition was possible thank to effort by the Mayor of Czestochowa, Tadeusz Wrona.