The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Takes Top Honors at Camerimage

Janusz Kaminski earned the Golden Frog Award for most artful cinematography on a 2007 feature film for Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at the 15th annual Plus Camerimage International Festival of the Art of Cinematography. The independent film was produced in France.

The Silver Frog Award went to Bruno Delbonnel, AFC for Across the Universe, an independent feature produced in England. The Bronze Frog Award was presented to Ed Lachman, ASC for I’m Not There, another independent feature produced in Canada. Festival founder and president Marek Zydowicz explained that the name for the award was derived from a medieval fable about a village in Poland that was overrun by frogs until a Polish version of the Pied Piper lured them away.

Camerimage renamed the student award this year as a tribute to the legendary cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, ASC. The Laszlo Kovacs Golden Tadpole Award was presented to Tomasz Wozniczka, a student at the Film and Television School at the University of Silesia, for cinematography in Beyond the Horizon. The Silver Tadpole Award was presented to Raphael Beinder, a student at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, for My Father Is Sleeping. The Bronze Tadpole Award was presented to Michael Sobocinski, a student at the Polish National Film School for Father.

The student awards were presented by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC and Audrey Kovacs, the widow of the legendary cinematographer. Zsigmond also headed the student film jury, which reviewed 31 entries from 13 countries.

The festival also presented lifetime achievement awards to Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC, for cinematography, Roman Polanski for directing, and to the cinematographer/director team of Michael Seresin, BSC and Alan Parker for their artful collaborations on nine feature films.

Find out the latest at http://www.pluscamerimage.pl.