‘The Girl With the Needle’ Wins Camerimage’s Golden Frog
The 32nd Edition of EnergaCamerimage closed Saturday evening with cinematographer Michał Dymek’s stark black-and-white lensing of “The Girl With the Needle” winning the festival’s Golden Frog.
The closing ceremony, held Saturday evening in Torun, Poland, additionally included numerous speeches with remarks about diversity and inclusion–a topic that dominated conversation this week following controversial remarks made by the festival’s director. In presenting the main competition winners, jury president Cate Blanchett urged festival goers to turn “these conversations, which have been really vast and interesting, into action.” She also encouraged producers and studio heads, among others, to take such steps. “To say that you can’t take a risk on a woman in just insanity,” she said to applause.
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Blanchett commended all of the films in the competition, admitting that it was difficult for the jury to compare such a range of films and those that were selected for prizes “have been risks that paid off.”
“The Girl With the Needle,” for which the jury also gave a special mention to director Magnus von Horn, is Denmark’s entry for this season’s Academy Award for an international feature. It’s loosely based on the true story of Dagmar Overbye, a Danish woman who established an underground adoption agency in post-World War I Copenhagen to help poor women dealing with unwanted pregnancies.
Cinematographer Lol Crawley’s lensing of Brady Corbet’s historical drama “The Brutalist” for A24 collected the Silver Frog, and Paul Guillaume’s cinematography on Jacques Audiard’s genre-defying Netflix musical movie “Emilia Pérez” claimed the Bronze Frog. Austria’s international feature entry “The Devil’s Bath,” directed by Veronica Franz and Severin Fail with cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, received the FIPRESCI critics prize.
In three of the past five years, the winner of Camerimage’s Golden Frog also earned an Oscar nomination in cinematography, including “Joker” in 2019, “Nomadland” in 2020 and “Tar” in 2022. Following the Golden Frog win for “Ida” in 2013, the black and white drama went on to win the Oscar a foreign language film (now the international feature category) and earn a second nomination in cinematography (for Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski).
This year’s main competition jury, led by Blanchett, included cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Jolanta Dylewska, producer/columnist Anna Higgs, costume designer Sandy Powell, and cinematographers Rodrigo Prieto and aforementioned Zal.
Among the women honored during the evening was Sandy Suri, whose “Santosh” won the Golden Frog in the directors’ debut competition. Accepting the award via a video message, she thanked those at the festival who worked to advance the conversation about diversity and inclusion, saying “there is no alternative, and everyone needs to be a part of that change. The world has become more hostile for all of us, so now, more than ever, we must promote peace, diversity.”
Honored women included writer and director Elizabeth Lo, who won the Golden Frog in the documentary feature competition for “Mistress Dispeller;” and Lisa Jilg from Germany’s Filmakademie Baden-Wittenberg, who received the Bronze Tadpole for “Titans.”
Aforementioned Rodrigo Prieto collected a Golden Frog in the music video competition, for lensing “Taylor Swift – Fortnight” (Feat. Post Malone), which was directed by Swift. Robert Elswit won the Golden Frog in the TV competition for an episode of “Ripley.” The Oscar winner won an Emmy for his work on the Netflix series in September.
Three-time Oscar nominated cinematographer and festival regular Ed Lachman (“El Conde,” “Carol” and “Far From Heaven”) received two lengthy standing ovations as he accepted the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Blanchett warmly presented the award to the cinematographer, saying that he “elevated” her work and everyone’s work.
“This has been my spiritual, cultural and cinematic home for 22 years since I was here with ‘Far From Heaven’ in 1997. … This is such a special place for all of us,” Lachman said of Camerimage, adding that it “may not be perfect but this is our lives” and the festival offers a rare opportunity to gather to explore the art.
Accepting the award for an editor, Oscar-winner William Goldenberg spoke about the editors, directors and cinematographers with whom he has worked, and acknowleged the contributions of the female directors of photography represented at the festival including Alice Brooks(“Wicked”) and Rina Yang (“The Fire Inside”). He added that DP Salvatore Torino, who leased Goldenberg’s directorial debut, “Unstoppable,” “made me a better director.”
Accepting the award for a production designer, Nathan Crowley (“Wicked”) concluded his remarks by acknowledging the collaborators on “Wicked,” and with a nod to Brooks, said “Alice” with a thumbs up. “Wicked” screened as the closing night film.
The list of award winners follows:
Main Competition Golden Frog: MICHAŁ DYMEK for “The Girl with the Needle,” Special mention to director Magnus von Horn
Main Competition Silver Frog: LOL CRAWLEY for “The Brutalist,” directed by Brady Corbet
Main Competition Bronze Frog: PAUL GUILHAUME for “Emilia Pérez,” directed by Jacques Audiard
FIPRESCI (International Federations of Film Critics) Award for Best Film: “The Devil’s Bath,” cinematography by MARTIN GSCHLACHT, directed by Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Golden Frog in the Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition: TODD MARTIN for “Tatami” directed by Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Guy Nattiv
Golden Frog in the Directors’ Debuts Competition: SANDHYA SURI for “Santosh”
Grand Prix Documentary Features Competition – Golden Frog: ELIZABETH LO for “Mistress Dispeller,” directed by Elizabeth Lo
Grand Prix Music Videos Competition – Golden Frog: RODRIGO PRIETO “Taylor Swift – Fortnight” (Feat. Post Malone) directed by Swift
Grand Prix TV Series Competition – Golden Frog: ROBERT ELSWIT for “Ripley: A Hard Man to Find,” directed by Steven Zairian
Grand Prix Polish Films Competition – Golden Frog: PIOTR SOBOCIŃSKI JR for “Scarborn,” directed by: PAWEŁ MAŚLONA
Golden Tadpole: TIN BRENDEL from Łódź Film School for “Orchid” directed by TIN BRENDEL.
Silver Tadpole: DANIEL LE HAI from Krzystof Kieslowski Film School for “I Am Not Here” directed by DANIEL LE HAI.
Bronze Tadpole: LISA JILG from Filmakademie Baden-Wittenberg for “Titans” directed by JANNIK WEIßE.
Audience Award: TODD MARTIN for “Tatami” directed by Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Guy Nattiv.
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