Down memory lane

Since its inception, Camerimage has been a place of pilgrimage for the industry’s leading lights. We asked some of those esteemed attendees to share their favourite experiences at the festival from across the decades.

“Camerimage over the years is a foggy blur of vodka and gear. The latest and greatest of both. I remember my first time in Łódź feeling so honoured to have my student film in competition, star-struck to be in close proximity to so many of my idols. It was 2006 I believe, and I was trying to wrap my head around the Thomson Viper FilmStream camera. So many buttons. So little celluloid. And who should wander up beside me but the legend himself, Harris Savides ASC. He asked questions. I listened. To this day I still can’t believe the imagery he conjured for Zodiac out of that digital mess.

And my returns, first with Fruitvale and then Black Panther, slowly becoming a peer and then friends with so many amazing DPs. Now watching the next generation do the same.

I remember nearly getting frostbite wandering the streets in the wee hours with Matty Libatique ASC. I remember dancing to terrible euro techno music, closing down the “club” with Reed [Morano ASC] and Edu [Grau ASC AEC]. The energy at Camerimage is palpable – as much excitement at the discovery of new glass as of a new film. It is a special place, hard to put into words. Which makes perfect sense because our currency is imagery.”

Rachel Morrison ASC

“In 1999, the seventh Camerimage festival took place, and I was invited over to give a seminar about my work with Stephen Frears, which at that point consisted of films starting with My Beautiful Laundrette in 1984 and the recently shot Hi-Lo Country, which turned about to be the last of the eight films I made with him. This was my first experience of “speaking in public” about films I had shot, so naturally I was a little nervous and terrified – especially as this was the guest list that year: John Bailey, Dean Cundey, Roger Deakins, Paweł Edelman, Sławomir Idziak, Anthony Dod Mantle, Robby Müller, Dick Pope, Giuseppe Rotunno, Timo Salminen, Witold Sobociński, Billy Williams and Jerzy Zieliński et etc – 100 in all! On top of that Midsummer Night’s Dream, a film I had made recently with director Michael Hoffman, was closing the festival, so all in all a very nerve-wracking week!

I was taken to a corridor alive with people and then to a door, behind which I could hear a lot of people talking – this was the room in which I was to give the Frears seminar. My guide beckoned me to wait outside a moment. I looked up and could see Robby Müller NSC BVK walking towards me down the corridor. I had not met him, but I knew what he looked like, so I was suitably stunned that such a person should be in attendance at the festival. He got closer to me, and I was torn between thinking about the seminar I was about to give and wanting to introduce myself to Robby. As he came past, I was still deciding what to do when he leant very close to my ear and said: “Don’t be a guru!” and kept walking. At that moment the door was opened, and I was whisked inside to be introduced to the audience. These words stayed with me then and have stayed with me ever since. Never was a wiser thing said about teaching and something that set me on a path – although I didn’t know it then – to become a full-time teacher at the NFTS in the UK 19 years later.”

Oliver Stapleton BSC

“My first Camerimage was an introduction to the wild side of cinema festivals. It was 2006, and I was invited to present a film I had shot called Red Road. I had no idea what to expect, to be honest it felt like it might be weird meeting up with loads of other camera folk to talk shop, but I forgot cinematographers are pretty hardcore when it comes to celebrating cinema! So I went along with the protocol and proceeded to have a great time partying, so much that when the day of my screening came along at 9am I was ill prepared!

I remember the poor guy who was entrusted with taking care of me had to do some serious work getting me out of bed to get up in time for the screening of my film in the main cinema in Łódź. I just remember the telephone endlessly ringing and finally waking up to hear a mildly distressed voice tell me that I was meant to be introducing the film in 10 minutes at the cinema which I reckon was 15 mins away. The shock went through me of how late I was, but I somehow got up, got dressed and ran as fast as I could through the foggy freezing streets to the screening.

I actually got there and saw the man with the cowboy hat introducing the film, so I ran down through the seats and climbed up the steps to the stage and proceeded to fall flat on my face to the amusement of the 15-30 strong audience who laughed a lot! I was obviously a little the worse for wear, but I stood up and made a rallying call to all in the cinema about how we were warriors for getting up so early to watch films we have no clue about, and I promised that they would enjoy Red Road! Then I scuttled down to the seats and started watching the film and woke up when it was over! I think they liked it. And I definitely liked Camerimage.”

Robbie Ryan BSC ISC

“It was 1994, year two of Camerimage, and somehow an independent film I had photographed caught the eye of the festival and was in the Main Competition. The film, Deadbeat was shot in Tucson Arizona, and starred Balthazar Getty, of the Getty family, and Natasha Wagner, daughter of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner. Rather interesting pedigrees. The Main Competition included two brilliantly photographed movies I never tire of watching to this day, Piotr Sobociński PSC’s Red, and Conrad Hall ASC’s Searching for Bobby Fischer. Red won the Silver Frog, and Bobby Fischer won the Bronze. The Golden Frog was awarded to two cinematographers: Arthur Reinhart for Crows and Tibor Máthé for Woyzeck. 

The festival was in Toruń, Marek’s [Żydowicz’s] hometown, and it was over the American Thanksgiving weekend. I remember being touched that the cooks had managed to find wild turkeys for our dinner, tiny birds much smaller than the enormous birds eaten Stateside where they are called butterballs. But our Polish turkeys were so tender and delicious, and we appreciated being able to celebrate the holiday with our film family.

There I was, a young cinematographer with only a couple of features under my belt, having mostly photographed documentaries and music videos up to that point. I was awestruck, getting to meet so many of my heroes, including Vilmos Zsigmond ASC who was President of the Jury, John Bailey ASC, Stuart Dryburgh ASC NZCS, and Adam Holender ASC, who became my ASC sponsor several years later. I remember also meeting and hanging out with Francoise and Douglas Kirkland at the festival that year (RIP Douglas). The festival was intimate, with everyone so accessible and friendly. Although it grew and grew over the next 28 years, it never lost its magic. Imagine a world-class festival devoted to our beloved cinematography, where students rub elbows with some of their heroes and where new friends were made while reconnecting with old friends from around the globe.

I did not get back to Camerimage for several years, by which time it had moved to Łódź. I then enjoyed many years attending in Bydgoszcz, walking along the river each day to the venue. But it all came full circle last November, when I was back in Toruń, masked and vaxxed, and as small and intimate as my first visit in 1994.”

Nancy Schreiber ASC