(MENAFN- Arab Times) Russian drama "Leviathan" won the Golden Frog, the top prize at Camerimage, a film festival devoted to the art of cinematography. The dark satire about corruption in Russia, which won the award for screenplay at Cannes and reps Russia in the Oscar race, was photographed by Mikhail Krichman and directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. Variety's review said: "The characters are all but swallowed by d.p. Mikhail Krichman's overwhelming anamorphic widescreen vistas."
The Silver Frog went to Palestinian feature "Omar," lensed by Ehab Assal and helmed by Hany Abu-Assad. Pic centers on a young Palestinian man who tries to seek out a traitor in their struggle against the Israeli army. Pic was Oscar nominated earlier this year.
The Bronze Frog jumped to "Mommy," which is another Cannes 2014 competition title, from cinematographer Andre Turpin and director Xavier Dolan. Pic, which reps Canada in the Oscar contest, centers on a widowed mother trying to cope with a teen son with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Directors' debuts competition was won by "Theeb," an adventure film about a young Bedouin boy, from cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler and director Naji Abu Nowar. It won the director prize in Venice's Horizons section. The cinematographers' debuts competition was won by Danish werewolf tale "When Animals Dream" from director photography Niels Thastum and director Jonas Alexander Arnby. Pic was in Cannes Critics' Week.
The top prize in the feature-length documentary films competition, the Golden Frog - Grand Prix, went to "Blood" from cinematographers Yura Gautsel and Sergei Maksimov, and director Alina Rudnitskaya. The film centers on a team of blood-donation nurses travelling across Russia. A special mention went to "Monte Adentro" from cinematographer Mauricio Vidal and director Nicolas Macario Alonso.
The Polish films competition was won by "Hardkor Disko," with cinematography by Kacper Fertacz and direction by Krzysztof Skonieczny. The Laszlo Kovacs Student Award, the Golden Tadpole, went to "Berlin Troika" from cinematographer Julian Landweer and director Andrej Gontcharov. The students' film school, the German Film and Television Academy, received the Polish Filmmakers Association Award.
The Silver Tadpole for student film went to "The Shadow Forest," from cinematographer Andrzej Cichocki and helmer Andrzej Cichocki from Kieslowski Faculty of Radio and TV University of Silesia in Poland. The Bronze Tadpole went to "Do You Even Know," from cinematographer Clemence Warnier and director Arthur Lecouturier from Institut des Arts de Diffusion in Belgium.
Special
The special award for cinematography in the student competition went to "Room 55." The cinematographer was James Blann and the director was Rose Glass from the UK's National Film and Television School.
The 3D films competition was won by "Beyond the Edge" from D.P. Richard Bluck and helmer Leanne Pooley. The best 3D feature film was "The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" from cinematographer Thomas Hardmeier and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The music videos competition was won by DJ Snake & Lil Jon's "Turn Down For What" from cinematographer Larkin Seiple and director Daniels. The honor for cinematography in a music video went to Paolo Nutini's "Iron Sky" from cinematographers Robbie Ryan and Daniel Wolfe. The short documentary films competition went to "Starting Point" from cinematographer Przemyslaw Niczyporuk and director Michal Szczesniak with a special mention for "Shipwreck," from cinematographer Morgan Knibbe and helmer Morgan Knibbe.
Polish filmmakers are punching above their weight, according to six-times Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, who heads the jury weighing six of Poland's most visually engaging pics at the Camerimage film festival this week in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
The films in the Polish competition, ranging from a tale of alcoholic obsession in "Hardkor Disko" to the story of a real-life Cold War superspy, "Jack Strong," show impressive camera mastery, says Deschanel, whose credits include "The Right Stuff," "The Natural" and "The Patriot."
One likely reason is that filmmakers now have far wider digital access to great films that inspire and inform them, he says.
"I've really noticed over the last couple of years there's been this extraordinary explosion of talent of young cinematographers throughout the world. I think the availability of films that could be studied - the access to all the information and about how things are shot - has really made that possible," he says.
Just as importantly, Deschanel adds, the range of film subjects and moods in current Polish fare is wider than many realize.
"This year there are actually a couple of comedies," he says. "My memory is of a lot of great Polish films that have always been quite serious and, you know, heavy in atmosphere."
Working with one of Turkey's most eminent helmer/scribes, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, does not necessarily mean working with much of a budget.
But, as cinematographer Gokhan Tiryaki put it at a conference on his filmmaking with Ceylan at Poland's Camerimage fest, the director "works in the subliminal space." Known for his explorations of existential themes, brooding static shots and glacial pans, the Palme d'Or-winning Ceylan makes it seem to Tiryaki when working on any other set that "nobody is doing anything."
It's not always easy working for an established art photographer, writer and actor, Tiryaki admits. And the prep process takes months, filled with long deliberation about color temperature, the atmosphere that the Anatolian landscape must emanate, the script - crafted with Ceylan's wife, Ebru - and which performers can render it best.
After that, the D.P. treks to the rural setting with Ceylan and the two of them run through the dialogue together in front of cameras, making tests. "That's very funny," says the diffident Tiryaki.
During the shoot for "Winter Sleep," the gorgeously filmed story of a former film star now in his sunset and caught in a moral dilemma, the pair decided that the depopulated mountain country should take on a cold, snow-blown look. Making use of available light whenever possible, now and then resorting to day-for-night created in post to render a liminal moonlit effect, Tiryaki describes long but unhurried work days in which the team jointly explored the boundaries of characters, dialogue and light.
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