American Cinematographer - January 2017 - 10

I'm writing this column not long after logging 11,726 flight
miles to and from Bydgoszcz, Poland, during the onset of a
frigid winter, to attend the annual Camerimage cinematography festival. Along the way, my main suitcase - with all of
my clothes - was re-routed and delayed for two days, forcing me to go on an impromptu shopping spree at a local mall;
jet lag, combined with 10 days of nonstop activity and very
little sleep, led to a zombie-like state of catatonic exhaustion;
and my journey home involved three flights, two turbulent
landings, and more than 20 hours of transit time.
Granted, this Homeric voyage might have seemed
slightly less grueling if I'd occasionally retired at a reasonable
hour instead of following each full day with wee-hour
sojourns to Mózg (a.k.a. the Brain Bar) and Savoy (the "Polish disco"). But, as veterans of this
circuit know, the best way to bond with the international cinematography community is to
schmooze like Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever: shouting yourself hoarse under kaleidoscopic lights on a jam-packed dance floor. No less an eminence than Christopher Doyle,
HKSC applauded my fortitude as I trudged through the Holiday Inn's lobby at 8 a.m., following
another long night of "business meetings" set to a Polish deejay's beats. "Bravo, man," he
said, flashing a raffish grin. "You know how to live."
Lest it appear that Camerimage is merely a lark, I should mention that Team ASC spent
its time in Poland quite productively. Senior European correspondent Benjamin B and I
presented a tribute to our late friend Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC, showcasing selected
sequences that we analyzed along with Jacek Laskus, ASC, PSC; Anthony Dod Mantle, ASC,
BSC, DFF; Dick Pope, BSC; Nancy Schreiber, ASC; and Robert Yeoman, ASC. Elsewhere, ASC
International Committee Chairman Suki Medencevic helped coordinate prominent participants for a joint ASC-Imago panel; Michael Chapman, ASC collected a Lifetime Achievement
Award; and Society members took part in a variety of other activities while also serving as festival jurors. I'm pleased to note that the "ASC" imprimatur appeared after the names of all three
Main Competition victors: Golden Frog winner Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS (Lion); Silver Frog recipient Bradford Young, ASC (Arrival) and Bronze Frog honoree Dod Mantle (Snowden).
Meanwhile, AC scribe Iain Marcks and cameraman Jon Britt conducted interviews that
can now be found on our website (www.theasc.com), while Benjamin gathered additional
Camerimage insights for his blog (www.theasc.com/site/blog/thefilmbook).
˙
Special thanks are due to Camerimage director Marek Zydowicz,
festival organizer
Kazik Suwala, marketing coordinator Dariusz Wyczółkowski and AC's invaluable Polish liaison,
Alicja Chajewska, for their hospitality and assistance throughout the event.
Upon returning to my usual duties, I was happy to find that the AC magazine staff
had held the fort with professional resolve, producing another excellent issue. During the finalproofing stage, I admired their deft shepherding of articles spotlighting cinematographers
Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC (discussing his work on the features Silence and Passengers); Linus
Sandgren, FSF (La La Land); Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS (Hidden Figures); Charlotte Bruus Christensen (Fences); Stéphane Fontaine, AFC (Jackie); Fred Elmes, ASC (Paterson); Hossein Jafarian
(The Salesman); and a trio of ASC Student Heritage Award winners.
Until next year, "What happens at Camerimage stays at Camerimage."

10

Stephen Pizzello
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

Editor's Note
http://www.theasc.com http://www.theasc.com/site/blog/thefilmbook
American Cinematographer - January 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2017
