The second day of the 14th edition of Camerimage

Sunday, 26.11, the second day of this year's Camerimage has revealed powerful competition films, as well as discussions and panels. The guests and the viewers had the opportunity to meet: Daniel Pearl - the author of video clips for such bands as U2 and Rolling Stones, John Myhre - the two-time Oscar winner for production design. And this year's Golden Frog winner for the Director with Special Visual Sensitivity - Istvan Szabo. What is more, the director awarded in Venice and Berlin, an actor, writer, painter and a poet, Jerzy Skolimowski, has opened an exhibition of his latest works.

For the cinema fans, Sunday was a feast day. The audience welcomed the screening of Rachid Bouchareb's competition film "Days of Glory" with Patrick Blossier's cinematography. The biggest crowd was attracted by Jakub Kolski's "Jasminum" with the cinematography by Krzysztof Ptak.



II WORLD WAR ON THE SCREEN

The issues of II WW has been shown on Sunday in two films. The competition film "Days of Glory" [Cinematographer: Patrick Blossier, Director: Rachid Bouchareb, Country: France, Morocco, Algeria, Belgium] shows war through the eyes of Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisansoldiers fighting in the French army to free France from the Nazi occupation in the years 1944-1945. The movie concerning the slightly neglected subject of the Great War suits perfectly the present discussion on the future of the Muslim minority in France and whole Western Europe. The film was given a warm welcome by the festival's audience. "Days of Glory" was awarded winner-ensemble for the cast of five [Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, Bernard Blancan and Samy Naceri]. Another film, the Australian "Kokoda" [cinematography: Jules O'Loughlin, director: Alister Grierson] depicts the dramatic battle of the Australian unit separated from the rest of the world during the Japan - New Guinea war.





POLAND RECOGNIZED

Crowds came to see Polish Competition Films - "Jasminum" [cinematography: Krzysztof Ptak, director: Jan Jakub Kolski] and "Palimpsest" [cinematography: Arkadiusz Tomiak; director: Konrad Niewolski]. The Polish-German production "Wholetrain" [cinematography: Christian Rein, director: Florian Gaag] also aroused a lot of interest. This story about two rival graffiti crews, partly shot in Warsaw, brought about a lively discussion during the meeting with the authors of the film. Warsaw was the first city to agree to the realization of the film. The authors had been looking for location in Germany, but the city council members of several German cities refused and even tried to threaten the film crew.



THE REST AS WELL

Two films and Daniel Pearl’s visual show, which lasted over an hour, completed the Sunday film presentation program in the Grand Theatre. The films were: debut from Finland, "Homesick/Koti-ikävä"[cinematography: Harri Räty; director: Petri Kotwica; European Debuts Competition] and the special screening "All The King's Men"[cinematography: Paweł Edelman, director: Steven Zaillian; USA, Germany]

The film is based on the book by Robert Penn Warren, which won him Pulitzer in 1946. It tells a story of Willy Stark, who made a brilliant political career with the aid of corrupted politicians. The film shows the dilemmas of human existence - sin, fault, and redemption. It delves into the essence of corruption. The author of the cinematography is the brilliant, world famous Polish cinematographer, Paweł Edelman. The winner of the European Film Award and Oscar nominated for the cinematography of Roman Polanski "The Pianist. He was also awarded with the Camerimage '97 Bronze Frog for the cinematography of Leszek Wosiewicz' "Family Affairs".





PEARL and SKOLIMOWSKI

Daniel Pearl's works were also widely appreciated. This year, he is awarded the Camerimage Special Award for the Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Video clips and Commercials. He is not only an artist who cam boast of cinematography to video clips and collaboration with such stars as Bobby Brown, Rolling Stones, Cher, Christina Aguilera, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Prince, Puff Daddy, The Police, Tina Tuner or U2, Will Smith and Julio Iglesias...He is also the author of the cinematography for ...Marcus Nispel "Texan Chainsaw Massacre." Today, Pearl met with journalists and students.

Jerzy Skolimowski's exhibition "white-black-red" was a special event. This director, scriptwriter, actor, producer, painter, poet and playwright has been working abroad for 40 years. This is the second time he has opened his exhibition [first "Czarnowidzenie" - was presented 4 years ago).

The collection presented on Sunday includes 50 works (21 canvas).

" There is aggression, dynamics emanating from them, they are full of energy. This exhibition constitutes of minimalistic elements, where I'd like to express the world of conflict and fight. Red and white are my favourite colours," commented Skolimowski on his works.

Skolimowski's script debut was the one for Andrzej Wajda film " Niewinni Czarodzieje" [1960], and his debut as a director was " Rysopis"[1964]. His "Start" won him a Golden Bear in Berlin [1967], and he received the Special Jury Award in Venice for "Latarniowiec".

David Lynch and many other people important for the film and art environment were present during the opening of the exhibition.

Sunday was also the day of many meetings and press conferences with the stars and guests of CAMERIMAGE





PATRICK BLOSSIER

Patrick Blossier, the cinematographer of Rachid Bouchareb's "Days of Glory" has worked during his 20-year career with such directors as Costa Gavras, Andrzej Żuławski and Agnes Varda. When asked about his contribution, he underlined the fact of low budget, which caused many limitations. "This film is very simple, there are no high-shots, it is difficult to talk about any visual message complication in this situation," said Blossier.

"Days of Glory" was the first war movie he has been working on, and he had to learn about this film convention from scratch. It is necessary to mention that the movie was given a warm welcome in Europe (Cannes Awards for the cast of five). What is more, Morroco appointed it their candidate for Oscar. That is why, maybe, the Hollywood reference is not without importance. It appears that Patrick Blossier stay at the 2006 Camerimage festival is not his first. When I shot "Wierność" with Andrzej Żuławski, we stayed in Lodz for 2 or 3 days. I remembered it as full of young people and amiable"





JOHN MYHRE

Two- time awarded with Oscar, the production designer of such films as "Dream Girls", "Memoirs of a Geisha", "Chicago", "Ali", or "X-men"; he began the conference with the tribute to the cinematographers.

I had the pleasure to work with many wonderful cinematographers and that is why my presence here is my duty." He pointed out that the collaboration among screenwriters and cinematographers is essential for achieving success in any film undertaking. He also described his work on the Oscar winning "Memoirs of a Geisha". TO get to know the scenery of the film-to-be, he spends more than a month in Japan, studying the traditional way of living in Japan. He shocked the Lodz film students a bit when he said that no school could help more than the sheer creation of the movie. When young he used to work for free and brew coffee for the crew." Thanks to your presence on the set you have the chance to observe the production process - and no theory can provide you with that," he said. He also pointed out that this profession requires passion, enthusiasm and reliability.





ISTVAN SZABO

On Sunday, students were able to take part in the unique seminar with the author of "Mefisto" and the winner of Camerimage 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award for the Director with Special Visual Sensitivity. The master spent the most of the meeting analyzing the "director's mission". "More than 40 years ago, I asked myself a question- what is unique in the film medium? I decided that the only true answer is that the film is able to catch and show the man's face of which is alive," said Szabo, "only the film is able to express human emotions. When a reader reads a book, they construct the character themselves, according to their own vision. In the film, the director decides about the characters appearance. And the energy in the film is based on the face". In his opinion the main role is played by the actors energy. This allows the viewer to understand the essence of the history. Because, according to Szabo, the history of cinema is the history of the face (Garbo, Dietrich, Fonda, Denevue, Monroe, Gable, Pachino, Dean, Stallone). The director also pointed out that it is not important to be realistic when making a film, it is important to be expressive. "Director's an artist! He works according to Ars poetica. He has the right not to be realistic."





THREATS FOR THE GRAFFITI CREW

The authors of "Wholetrain" met with the journalists and viewers during the press conference [Poland, Germany; debuts competition]. A story about a graffiti crew arouse a lot controversy and cause a lively discussion. The director Florian Gagg admitted that he used to do graffiti in his pastand that he decided to tell about this culture in his debut. He resigned from any autobiographic elements and told an entirely fictional story. The authors of the film described the difficulties concerning finding the right place for shooting the film. No city in Germany and Europe wanted to agree to provide carriages or depots. The director was even threatened by the authorities of one of the cities that said he would warn other city councils against the "perilous film crew, promoting vandalism among the teenagers".

It was only Warsaw and Polish National Rail that gave the crew a helping hand. The authors of the film pointed out that the production was not meant to promote or criticize the art of graffiti. They only wanted to show that graffiti crew are not common criminals, but representatives of an important contemporary subculture, which can be sometimes, but not always appreciated.





DANIEL PEARL - PRESENTATION

The presentation of the artistic output of Daniel Pearl was one of Sunday's most interesting events. His works were divided into theme groups: video clips, TV commercials and film trailers. Video clips were shown in a chronological order, which allowed to observe how the technology and the work conditions have changed throughout the years.

The author has chosen mainly those video clips and commercials, which he considered interesting in the field of cinematography. Among them were works for such artists as The Police, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, U2, Guns and Roses, The Rolling Stones, Billy Idol, Lionel Richie, Meat Loaf, Seal, Toni Braxton. The audience was interested in those commercials and film trailers, which Pearl now considers the most important.

Pearl also met with the journalists. He proved to be a man without any limitations, a man who is familiar with all aspects of the work behind the camera - while making feature movies, as well as video clips and commercials. He told about his failure when trying to become a freelance director. Remaining behind the camera on his own cost him the loss of all contracts. Directors- the so-far employers treated him as competition. Offers came in abundance when he resigned from directing. When asked about the source of his inspiration, he said that he appreciates the freshness of his own ideas and that is why he never watches other video clips. When seeking inspiration he goes to museums and galleries. He also mentioned the issue of the cinema evolution. He claimed that today, the only evaluation criterion is the profit. That is why, he praised the Camerimage organizers for conducting the festival, where the main value is art and not profits Zbigniew Holdys ended the conference with an appropriate thought "The art of film is ephemeral and that's why we thank Daniel Pearl for his contribution and care"





RISKY PALIMPSEST

Arkadiusz Tomiak, the "Palimpsest" cinematographer, together with Andrzej Chyra playing the leading role in the production talked about the creation of the film during their conference. "Palimpsest" is the 11th film by Arkadiusz Tomiak, and the second made with Konrad Niewolski. " This job, from the technical point of view, was rather risky. The shots were taken at the verge of exposition when even half diaphragm more or less can spoil the take." said Tomiak. He denied basing anything on Caracaggio's paintings. "There was no exact talk concerning this subject, nor even a decision made what to base on. I only wanted to make a standard film without computer processing".

Chyra admitted that he himself suggested limiting the dialogues in the film. " After discussing it with the director we cut out 80% of the dialogues. The manner of explaining everything through dialogue is irritating. One has to explain everything through the image as long as it is possible," the actor said.