RICK CARTER WITH THE AWARD FOR PRODUCTION DESIGNER!

Thursday October 17th, 2013

A gigantic natural park located on an exotic island, isolated from the outside world, when man-made buildings become a deadly battlefield between humans and prehistoric predators. Perfectly recreated ships, battlegrounds, courthouses, offices and interiors of the most important American buildings during the crucial transformations of the 19th century. Elaborately created housings, streets and high-tech cities of the Earth of the future, filled with bright neon lights and fable-like landscapes, in which robots became technologically advanced to the level of wanting to have human souls. Large mansions of the American South, small hippie flats, huge gatherings of freedom fighters, intimate conversations on the park bench, showing the true colors of the United States. Virtually created, fully realized planet, carefully thought out in terms of fauna, flora and topography, that becomes a place of an epic-sized battle between technology vs. faith and wits. Those are but a few examples of the work done by production designer Rick Carter, a close collaborator of Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and James Cameron, two-time Oscar winner, and one of the greatest professionals in his field. We have the great pleasure to announce that in recognition of his wonderful achievements in the film industry, including his input made to the visual side of cinematic experience, we will honour Rick Carter with the Special Camerimage Award for a Production Designer with Unique Visual Sensitivity.

Rick Carter; courtesy of Rick Carter Archives
Rick Carter started his adventure with the film industry almost four decades ago, first as a member of the art departments, and later on as a production designer. He has worked on over twenty films, many of which became true American classics. Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future Part III, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, Amistad, Cast Away, Artificial Intelligence: AI, War of the Worlds, Munich, Avatar, War Horse, Lincoln - each of these films offers viewers the opportunity to fully immerse in the reality depicted on the screen, to forget about the world outside and the fact that what they see is nothing more than just an elaborate illusion. Carter strongly believes in the power of such an illusion; that it can both help and inspire. He always says that production designer should be one of the first people on the set to believe in what it is going to become in the near future. He started out as a portrait painter, that is why he works instinctively, treating the whole process organically, believing that sometimes one needs simply to surrender to it. He perceives each film as an individual experience and a unique challenge, always trying to understand the director's vision and become his partner in creating a physical, tangible world that will host a given story and become a space in which all the actors will feel comfortable and free to create their characters.

Still from "Artificial Intelligence: AI"

Still from "Amistad"
That was the case with Lincoln (together with set designer Jim Erickson, Carter won an Academy Award for his work on that film). Each detail of the White House set - each book, piece of furniture, even color - was a painstakingly faithful recreation of what Abraham Lincoln saw with his own eyes, thus helping Daniel Day-Lewis with his Academy Award winning performance. "Lincoln can also be set as an example of how Carter perceives his artistic responsibility - not only did he help Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski to create the foreground, middle ground, and background, but also assisted them in framing the set by manipulating the color palette and modifying such details as window curtains. His collaboration with Spielberg, started on the set of Richard Donner'sThe Goonies (Carter worked in the art department supervised by production designer J. Michael Riva), has become the most important in his career, giving him many great challenges and not letting to get stale. For Rick Carter treats filmmaking as an adventure, a constant journey filled with new acquaintances and going back to the places he visited before - a journey that makes him open to what is new and exciting.

Still from "Avatar"

Still from "Lincoln"
Because of such an attitude, he does not have any problems with production design done in virtual reality. Even before Avatar (that got him his first Academy Award) he helped Robert Zemeckis to create the unique reality of The Polar Express. Carter admits that he sees each new project as a blank canvas, waiting to be filled with form and content. He sees the collaboration part of filmmaking as the most fun aspect of his work, as only together the artists on the set can create a work of art - he wants to guide them and be guided by them at the same time. And he constantly seeks new challenges; presently he is working as visual consultant with Steven Spielberg and director Colin Trevorrow on the next installment of Jurassic Park series. Additionally, he engaged himself in promoting the ideas of 5D Institute, an organization dedicated to creating exciting stories through world building. Rick Carter is a fascinating filmmaker and a wonderful man. We will host him with great pleasure and present him with the Special Award to the Production Designer with Unique Visual Sensitivity he so strongly deserves.

Rick Carter will attend the festival to collect the Award personally and to meet with the Festival audience during his workshop "Designing Worlds" and after the special screening of Forrest Gump.

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