ANNOUNCING THE 2016 AWARD TO PRODUCER WITH UNIQUE VISUAL SENSITIVITY

Thursday October 27th, 2016

A film producer is quite often perceived as a mysterious someone who brings money to the table, earns on the picture's box-office success, or loses with its failure, and is the most powerful person on a set, able to exercise the authority to enforce his or her own vision. Each of these statements is largely true, however, an experienced producer never sabotages a project without a good reason, and trusts the hired professionals. But the truth is, the role is far more complex that many might imagine. For one, a producer is a creative person, having a say in how, when, where and with what the film will be shot, while working with a director and the heads of departments on bringing the story to life. What is more important, though, is that a producer is most often one of the first people on a project, providing it – as with a small child – with the best conditions to grow.

 
Robert Lantos,
Copyright © Photo Credit Sabrina Lantos

Robert Lantos, this year's recipient of Camerimage Award to a Producer with Unique Visual Sensitivity, has over forty years of experience in the entertainment industry, during which he made films with many internationally recognized artists such as Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, Bruce Beresford and István Szabó. But his biggest input in the films he worked on was his faith that cinema can be an art form, created through universal visual language, and keep building bridges of empathy and understanding. He has the courage to create the films he wants to make, not the ones he has to. We feel deeply honored that we will be able to hand over this distinction personally to Robert Lantos who will come to Bydgoszcz to participate in the 24th edition of Camerimage Festival.

Although Robert Lantos built his reputation in Canada, where he has lived most of his life, like many distinguished film producers he had come to the New World from Europe. He was born in Budapest, and was eight years old when his family fled the country after the Hungarian Revolution. They first went to Uruguay and six years later ended up in Canada. From an early age, Lantos had already been fascinated with the power of cinema, but he finally decided to pursue a career in film during his time at McGill University. He took his first steps in the industry as a co-founder of a company that imported and distributed foreign films across Canada, but he got quickly hooked on producing. His first success came when he was 28 with the second film he made, George Kaczender's In Praise of Older Women – which was picked up for international distribution by Warner Brothers. He then got an offer from a Hollywood studio, but decided to stay in Canada and follow his own path.
 
Still from "Sunshine"

Still from "Eastern Promises"

This was not the last time that he rejected the easier path. In 1998, Lantos sold Alliance Communications Corporation, of which he was Chairman, CEO and co-founder, in order to return to his roots and make films that inspired him. As he amusingly put it himself in one of the interviews: You know the establishment is in trouble if I’m a member of it. He founded Serendipity Point Films, to produce films that matter to him and to work with directors whose vision he shares. The company's first feature was David Cronenberg'seXistenZ, a futuristic-virtual-reality film considered ahead of its time.

Lantos had previously worked with Cronenberg as executive producer of Crash, one of the most controversial films of the 1990s. Years later, he produced another film with the Canadian director, the gangster drama Eastern Promises, nominated for three Golden Globes and an Academy Award®. Serendipity's other films include Sunshine directed by István Szabó, a harrowing tale about a Hungarian family that experienced many of the 20th century's greatest dramas. Sunshine was nominated for three Golden Globes and won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Motion Picture. Together, Szabó and Lantos worked on Being Julia, the film for which Annette Bening received an Academy Award® nomination and won a Golden Globe for Best Actress. Lantos' other projects at Serendipity included Norman Jewison's thriller The Statement about a Nazi war criminal, Jeremy Podeswa's drama Fugitive Pieces, winner of Best Actor Award at the Rome Film Festival, Denys Arcand's Stardom, Closing Night Film at the Cannes Film Festival, and Richard J. Lewis'Barney's Version  (based on the novel written by Lantos' friend Mordecai Richler), the story of the trials and tribulations of a foulmouthed, politically incorrect television producer. Paul Giamatti won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role as Barney, and the film received an Academy Award® nomination.
 
Still from "Remember"
 
Still from "Where the Truth Lies"

Robert Lantos' most frequent collaborator has been Atom Egoyan, the Canadian filmmaker with Armenian roots who had become during the 1990s one of the most cherished independent directors. Together they made seven features, starting with Exotica, an erotically-charged drama of human despair (winner of the Cannes International Critics Prize). Their other films include The Sweet Hereafter, a tale of a small community dealing with collective trauma (winner of the Cannes Grand Prix, nominated for two Academy Awards®), and Where the Truth Lies, a seductive thriller about fame and desire. Their latest feature, Remember, is a grueling and poignant story of an old Holocaust survivor who seeks revenge on his former captors, which leads to a bittersweet conclusion about the way the truth works nowadays. The film sparked a lively debate and brought Lantos the Feature Film Producer's Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Robert Lantos has repeatedly proven that he is not afraid of risky projects and feels at home in the presence of artists who are aware of the possibilities and responsibilities of being a film director. Lantos was on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is the former Chairman of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and a member of the European Film Academy and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He has never forgotten that the most important element of any film is its story, and that one should surround himself with the people who believe it should be told. If it happens to make a profit once in a while, so much the better, he said in an interview. But it often doesn’t. For me it’s not about that now.
 
Still from "Barney's Version"
 
Still from "Being Julia"

It will be our great pleasure to welcome in Bydgoszcz such a distinguished film producer who is still active in his field after forty years of producing feature films and television projects. And who constantly proves that money is not everything and the art of film can, and should, be valued for being a catalyst for dialog and change. We sincerely invite everyone to meet Robert Lantos, this year's recipient of the Award to a Producer with Unique Visual Sensitivity.
 
 

FINANCED BY THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND NATIONAL HERITAGE OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND AS PART OF THE TASK: CO-ORGANIZATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF THE ART OF CINEMATOGRAPHY EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2024

CO-FINANCED BY: THE CITY OF TORUŃ AND KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE REGION

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