The New Boy — the story of a young Aboriginal Australian orphan boy that was written, directed and lensed by Warwick Thornton — collected the Golden Frog in the main competition of the 31st EnergaCamerimage international cinematography film festival, which closed Saturday night in Torún, Poland.
Cinematographer Ed Lachman received the Silver Frog for Pablo Larraín’s El Conde, which positions Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a vampire. Robbie Ryan’s lensing of Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, the story of a young woman (Emma Stone) brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, claimed the Bronze Frog as well as the Audience Award. (Ryan collected the Golden Frog two years ago, for Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon, and Lachman won the Golden Frog in 2015, for Todd Haynes’ Carol.).
The FIPRESCI Prize was awarded to Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, a chilling look at the life of Auschwitz concentration camp commander Rudolf Höss and his family, lensed by Lukasz Zal (who won the 2013 Golden Frog for Ida).
These films topped a competitive field in the main competition that includes Oscar hopefuls such as Ferrari, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro and Napoleon. The main competition winners were selected by a jury that included president Mandy Walker, Anthony Dod Mantle, Millennia Fiedler, Karl Walker Lindenlaub, Jan Roelfs, Jonathan Sela and Salvatore Totino.
Winners in the additional races included Totino, who topped the TV series competition for his work on The Offer episode titled “A Seat at the Table,” directed by Dexter Fletcher.
Camerimage presented a series of special awards during the closing ceremony. Peter Dinklage accepted the Festival Director’s Award for an Actor and also helped introduce the event’s closing night film, which he stars in, Rebeca Miller’s She Came to Me.
Krzysztof Zanussi was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for a director; the Brothers Quay, the award for directors with unique visual sensitivity; cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger and director Werner Herzog, the cinematographer/director duo award; Jenny Beavan, a special award for achievements in costume design; and Floria Sigismondi, the award for directing achievements in music videos.
Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, whose recent work on Barbie and Killers of the Flower Moon was featured at the festival, was feted with The Music news‘s first Titan honor for a cinematographer, which was presented by tech editor Carolyn Giardina.
The complete list of winners follows:
Main Competition
Golden Frog: The New Boy
Cin. Warwick Thornton
Dir. Warwick Thornton
Silver Frog: El Conde
Cin. Ed Lachman
Dir. Pablo Larraín
Bronze Frog: Poor Things
Cin. Robbie Ryan
Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
FIPRESCI Award
The International Federation of Film Critics Award for Best Film: The Zone of Interest
Cin. Łukasz Żal
Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Polish Films Competition
Best Polish Film: Doppelgänger. The Double
Cin. Bartłomiej Kaczmarek
Dir. Jan Holoubek
Film and Art School Etudes Competition
Laszlo Kovacs Student Award – Golden Tadpole – Cremation, Or The Quarantine Hotel
Cin. Wen Lau
Dir. Ning Qian
School: National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA)
Silver Tadpole: Plastic Touch
Cin. Celia Morales
Dir. Aitana Ahrens
School: The Madrid Film School (ECAM)
Bronze Tadpole: Poor Boy Long Way from Home
Cin. Tuur Oosterlinck
Dir. Jonas Hollevoet
School: Sint-Lucas School of Arts, Brussel (LUCA)
Documentary Features Competition
Golden Frog — best feature documentary: The Echo
Cin. Ernesto Pardo
Dir. Tatiana Huezo
Documentary Shorts Competition
Golden Frog — best short documentary: Oasis
Cin. Myriam Payette
Dir. Justine Martin
Directors’ Debuts Competition
under the patronage of the Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP)
Best Director’s Debut: Inshallah a Boy
Cin. Kanamé Onoyama
Dir. Amjad Al-Rasheed
Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition
under the patronage of the Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP)
Best Cinematographer’s Debut: A Song Sung Blue
Cin. Jiayue Hao
Dir. Zihan Geng
Music Videos Competition
Best Music Video: Son Lux, “Undertow”
Cin. Drew Bienemann
Dir. Alex Cook
TV Series Competition
Best Episode: The Offer: A Seat at the Table
Cin. Salvatore Totino
Dir. Dexter Fletcher
Audience Award
Poor Things
cin. Robbie Ryan
dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
