Camerimage 2019

Camerimage in Poland is one of the world’s leading film festival with a focus on the art of Cinematography. Now in its 27th year the festival has gone from strength to strength. 2019's festival was my fourth and there is lots to report. The festival was a little different to the previous three I have attended due to a relocation to Toruń from Bydgoszcz. The new location is much the same as the previous in that its based in a large town with a medieval history. 

Torun city wall

Statue of Copernicus

The main festival hall was based at the CKK Jordanki, a fantastic contemporary theatre with more than sufficient space to house the excellent marketplace of companies from the world of camera and lighting through to pre and postproduction facilities. However whilst attending the festival I heard of the exciting plans to build a permanent CAMERIMAGE European Film Centre on a disused site a five minute walk from the CKK. The centre will be for research and training in the area of filmmaking all year round and not just during the festival – a great asset to Toruń and the wider community and Camerimage festivals to come!

CKK Jordanki main festival hall

The festival site consists of many locations for workshops and seminars held by leading figures from the cinematography discipline. One such venue this year was a local high schools hall that made a fantastic location for a set construction to display live demonstrations of camera and lighting set ups. I attend one such event run by Canon and lead by Claudia Raschke a leading documentary maker who creates films using the Cinema Verite style.

Workshop centre directions

Claudia Raschke workshop

I also had the chance to attend the ARRI seminar on connectivity. ARRI are one of the leading camera and lighting companies in the world. Created by two friends Arnold and Richter (AR + RI = ARRI) ARRI was born in 1917. Today the company offers training and their seminars and workshops are leading the way to understanding the now very complex landscape of camera technology cinematographers are faced with understanding. Look up tables (LUTs), metadata, wireless connectivity and camera access protocol (CAP) being just a few things covered in this in-depth seminar.

As well as the fantastic workshops and seminars the festival is predominantly a film festival like any other, with awards presented in all major categories of filmmaking. The main festival winners (Golden Frogs) this year where 1st place Joker, 2nd place The Two Popes and 3rd place The Painted Bird plus there were also awards for best documentary Midnight Family, best music video for James Massiha ‘Natural Born Killers (Ride for Me)’ plus best music video Cinematography for the Jon Hopkins ‘Singularity’ and round table discussion of short films Lefty/Righty, Cactus Blossom and Boarder Crossing to name a few.

Award ceremony

Helena Trestikova documentary event

The whole experience of visiting Camerimage 2019 despite the change of location was a real treat and one to remember. Discovering all the new venues and seeing familiar faces in familiar scenarios made for a real adventure. The new home of Toruń looks set to be an interesting chapter in the Camerimage story. The ever-changing face of cinematography technology shows no sign of slowing and with other developments looming in the future such as computer gaming engines crossover into the film industry, events such as Camerimage are an essential calendar event for industry professionals.

Rose jam Paczki shop (Polish Doughnuts)

Flower stall at night

So, another Camerimage over and I have no doubt the organisers are already busy planning and refining the 2020 event to be even more impressive and integrated with the town of Toruń, which incidentally was the festivals birthplace in 1993. The previous site of the festival, Bydgoszcz will always be a place I have fond memories of, and I will no doubt visit the town again in the future.

Web links:

Camerimage Festival

https://camerimage.pl/en/

Documentry filmmaker Claudia Raschke IMDB

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0711070/

Cinema Verite

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cin%C3%A9ma_v%C3%A9rit%C3%A9

ARRI 100 History

https://de-de.facebook.com/TeamARRI/videos/arris-history-1917-the-beginning/10156022267839061/

CAP app

https://pomfort.com/pocketcontrol/

ARRI LUTs

https://www.arri.com/en/learn-help/learn-help-camera-system/tools/lut-generator

Feature Films:

Joker

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7286456/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Two Popes

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8404614/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

The Painted Bird

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1667354/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Documentary Films:

Rene

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334606/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Katka

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1533061/?ref_=tt_sims_tti

Honey Land

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8991268/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Music Video:

James Massiha ‘Natural Born Killers (Ride for Me)

https://vimeo.com/358604086

Jon Hopkins ‘Singularity’

https://vimeo.com/290574571

Short Films:

Lefty/Righty

https://vimeo.com/375462263

Cactus Blossom

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10719304/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1

Boarder Crossing

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10814852/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Chislehurst Caves Doc

Chislehurst: A Town on Top of a Tinderbox is a documentary about the town of Chislehurst and its involvement in the first world war. The program was commissioned by The Chislehurst Society through Chislehurst Caves - a place I have worked for since I was teenager. When asked to create a short documentary about the caves use as a munitions storage facility I jumped at the opportunity.  I had the chance to work with the Black Magic Cinema Camera using 12mm, 25mm and 50mm MFT SLR Magic lenses for this project. As well as this camera I also used my DSLR to acquire run and gun footage when needed. Sound was always going to be tricky with just myself doing the filming on those parts. Here is a link to the documentary - please use the password: 9Degrees to view it. https://vimeo.com/125403255

Showreel coming soon!

I am currently in the process of building a website so people can see my camera work. Here is a screen grab of how the front page is looking so far.

To create the site I am using a website called Weebly after seeing a positive review on the BBC Click program.

As well as completing the website I am also in the process of developing my showreel to be included on the site.


Once the two are complete I will post a link on here as well as other social media. In the meantime please take a look at some of my camera work at the Lalacuna youtube site 

Make Architects Conference Film

Make architects held a conference to unveil their proposal to expand Stansted airport into a hub for international flights.

I filmed the event using a Sony EX1 and a Nikon D7000. I then edited the footage using Adobe Premier on a mac and delivered the project via Vimeo in H.264 Quicktime Compression using 780x1080 pixels.

Bubble Tea Promo

I am currently working on a promotional film for Milk Tea and Pearl. The Taiwanese desert style tea or  Bubble Tea is taking off in London and to promote the MTP shops myself, Dan Duran and Fredrick Boxer (Lalacuna) have devised a fun yet informative short film that will be deployable on several platforms.

Shooting on a Nikon D7000 (Dan Can Films) using an original 35mm Nikkor Lense (Focus 24) gave the image a nice soft tone and short depth of field for a cinematic look. The project is scheduled to be completed by April 2013.