OSCARS® WINNERS AND 2023/2024 FILM AWARDS SEASON SUMMARY

Monday March 11th, 2024

A few hours ago we learned all the winners of the Oscars^®, one of the most prestigious accolades in the film industry and the Sunday night’s ceremony has officially concluded the exciting film awards season. For the last months, the cinema fans have had a chance to witness the awards being granted by the following associations: BAFTA, Critics’ Choice, ASC, BSC, Film Independent and many more. The honored artists included the expected favorites, but there were also some surprises. How did the motion pictures we had the opportunity to see at the 31^st EnergaCAMERIMAGE in Toruń fare? Let's get to know this year's winners not only of the Oscar^® night, but also take a look at the summary of the entire 2023/2024 awards season.

Let’s first have a look at the recently concluded the 96^th Annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards ceremony, which was held on Sunday, March 10^th at the Dolby Theater at Ovation Hollywood center in Los Angeles, CA. Also this time, our team, headed by Marek Żydowicz (director of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival) and Kazimierz Suwała (director of the European Film Center CAMERIMAGE) were present on site to personally congratulate all the awarded filmmakers.

The undisputed winner of the Oscar^® night is the film Oppenheimer, gathering 7 statuettes (from 13 nominations), including Best Picture title, but we were particularly interested in the Best Cinematography category, as four motion pictures, highly appreciated at our festival, have received their nominations in this section. Finally the Oscar^® went to Hoyte van Hoytema recognized for his visual mastery in Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan.

In this close to our heart category, Hoyte van Hoytema competed with such remarkable cinematographers as Edward Lachman (El Conde, Silver Frog recipient), Robbie Ryan (Poor Things, Bronze Frog recipient), Matthew Libatique (Maestro, Main Competition) and Rodrigo Prieto (Killers of the Flower Moon, Main Competition).

Our sincere congratulations not only to Hoyte van Hoytema, but also to all the nominees in this category and thank you for your stunning works that provided us with unforgettable cinematic experiences!

Hoyte van Hoytema at CAMERIMAGE Film Festival
(photo by fotografowie.com - Daniel Raczyński © Camerimage)

Apart from the Oscars^®, how did the productions you had the opportunity to see at last year's EnergaCAMERIMAGE in Toruń perform throughout the awards season?

One of the pictures which has emerged as a favorite in the Oscar^® race was Poor Things (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos), competing for eleven statuettes. The film opened the EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2023 and won the Bronze Frog, as well as the festival’s Audience Award, and during the Oscar^® night succeed in the four categories: Actress in a Leading Role, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production and Costume Design. Poor Things is a picture that has been triumphantly showcased on the red carpets of international film events since its premiere and boasts a number of prestigious accolades, among others two Golden Globes (from seven nominations) for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy and Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy. The film also won the Golden Lion, the Venice Film Festival's main prize, and the Critics' Choice Acting Award, as well as BAFTA Film Awards (11 nominations – 5 wins), Satellites (8 nominations – 2 wins) and International AACTA honor (4 nominations – 1 win). Meanwhile, Robbie Ryan, recognized with Oscar^® nomination for his visual mastery in Poor Things, competed for both the ASC and BSC Awards in the feature film category, receiving the British Society of Cinematographers laurel.

Nominated for the Oscar^® in the Best Achievement in Cinematography category, El Conde (dir. Pablo Larraín), lensed by Ed Lachman, is in turn a film that not only won the Silver Frog at EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2023, but also participated in the Main Competition of the Venice Film Festival, receiving the award for Best Screenplay. In addition to the Oscar^®, Ed Lachman has also competed for the ASC Award, in the Theatrical Feature Film category.

Ed Lachman and Pablo Larraín at 2023 EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival
(photo by Krzysztof Wesołowski © Camerimage)

Finally, our Main Competition Golden Frog winner, The New Boy, directed and lensed by Warwick Thornton, although omitted from this year’s Oscar^® nominations, was recognized, among others, by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, which honored the production with more than a dozen AACTA Award nominations and four wins, including Best Cinematography category, as well as Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Production Design. Warwick Thornton is also among the filmmakers honored by the American Society of Cinematographers, receiving the Spotlight Award. The New Boy was screened at many international film festivals, including the Cannes’ Un Certain Regard competition.

Also, let’s not forget about The Zone of Interest. The Jonathan Glazer film lensed by Łukasz Żal won the FIPRESCI Award at EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2023, repeating the same success from the Cannes Festival, where next to the FIPRESCI honour, it also received the Grand Prix for Best Film, the Cannes Soundtrack Award and the CST Artist - Technician Prize. The Zone of Interest is also a film honored with nominations for five Oscars^® and two wins for Best International Feature Film and Best Sound, as well as three BAFTA Film Awards (from nine nominations) for Best Sound, Outstanding British Film and Film not in the English Language categories, and nominations for: six European Film Awards (including winning in the Best Sound category), three Golden Globes, one Critics’ Choice as well as one Independent Spirit Award. It also received the Satellite in the Best International Motion Picture category. The film was financially supported by the Polish Film Institute and co-produced by Ewa Puszczyńska.

Ewa Puszczyńska and Łukasz Żal at 2023 EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival
(photo by Krzysztof Wesołowski © Camerimage)

However, this is not the end yet. In 2023, the audience of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE festival had a chance to enjoy other feature and documentary films awarded not only by the American Academy^® but also with many other significant honors.

These include our proposals from the Main Competition, such as: Killers of the Flower Moon (Golden Globe, Satellite Award), Napoleon (International AACTA Award, Satellite Award), Society of the Snow (two EFA Awards), Maestro (three Satellite Awards, including Best Cinematography category) or Filip, shot among others in Toruń, whose director of photography, Michał Sobociński, was awarded by the Polish Film Academy with an Eagle for Best Cinematography, as well as Special Screenings and Contemporary World Cinema screenings, as: Barbie (Oscar^®, two Golden Globes, six Critics’ Choice Awards, three International AACTA Awards, two Satellite Awards), The Holdovers (Oscar^®, two Golden Globes, two BAFTA Film Awards, three Critics’ Choice and three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Cinematography category, as well as four Satellites), May December (Independent Spirit Award), Monster (Queer Palm and Best Screenplay Award at Cannes IFF), Priscilla (Volpi Cup at Venice IFF), The Promised Land (SIGNIS Award – Honorable Mention at Venice IFF, three EFA Awards, including Best European Cinematographer of the Year), and the Best European Film of the Year and Palme d’Or winner at Cannes, Anatomy of a Fall (in addition, a total of five EFA Awards, Oscar^®, two Golden Globes, BAFTA Film Award, Critics’ Choice and Independent Spirit Awards).

Curren Sheldon during the Q&A of the documentary "King Coal" at 2023 EnergaCAMERIMAGE
(photo by Jakub Wawrzak © Camerimage)

The pilot of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart series, one of the propositions of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE TV Series Competition, won four AACTA Awards (including two for the Black Fire Orchid episode screened in the competition), meanwhile nominated for the Oscar^® documentary Grandma & Grandma, is a picture qualified to our Documentary Shorts Competition. This year’s Golden Frog recipient in the Documentary Features Competition, The Echo won Berlinale 2023 Documentary Award and Encounters Award – Best Director, and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood and King Coal, showcased in the same section, are consecutively the winner of the EFA Award for Best European Documentary of the Year and a picture honored with the ASC Award in the Best Cinematography in a Documentary Film category.

Robbie Ryan and Willem Dafoe during the preview of "Poor Things" at 2023 EnergaCAMERIMAGE
(photo by Witek Szydłowski © Camerimage)

What is worth mentioning, many of the awarded filmmakers visited us in Toruń in person to meet the audience of the 31^st edition of EnergaCAMERIMAGE and talk about their professional experience and work on the set. Among them were such cinema personalities as: Ed Lachman, Willem Dafoe, Łukasz Żal, Robbie Ryan, Pablo Larraín, Pedro Luque, J.A. Bayona, Rodrigo Prieto, Warwick Thornton, Dariusz Wolski, Michał Sobociński and many others. We invite you to take a look at the video materials from the last year's edition of the festival. On our YouTube channel you will find a whole lot of interviews not only with these excellent filmmakers but many more. We will continue to publish more video materials, and they will soon see the light of day. Stay tuned!

We extend our warm congratulations to all the filmmakers! We look forward to seeing your next cinematic masterpieces!