Camerimage 2021 Diary – by the team at public relations and publicity firm EB Comms

Read Day One’s diary here

• The Last Duel, shot by Dariusz Wolski ASC, stirs waves of emotion
• The Tragedy Of Macbeth, lit by Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC, hailed as a masterpiece
• Sony makes an impressive 8.6K splash with the new Venice 2
• DP Markus Förderer reveals his artist’s eye & technician’s mind at Red Notice Q&A
• Cooke Optics party helps to elevate the day’s excitement still further!

Monday, November 15th:

After our breakfast meeting, the crew spread out across the festival, which is really starting to buzz now.

Meredith screened cinematographer Jamie Ramsay’s exquisite work on Mothering Sunday from the comfort of her hotel room, while catching-up on emails and calls to Hollywood. The film is a dreamy psychological drama – starring Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth – and Jamie’s cinematography lends a dreamy tension to the story of a young writer trying to find her voice amid the loss of one lover after another.

Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC and Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC

Other team members went to the screening of Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, shot by Dariusz Wolski ASC. None of us, including the jury and eager festival goers in the audience, could have expected the intense, medieval, Rashomon-inspired epic that appeared before our eyes – Ridley, Dariusz, plus the entire cast and crew are at their very best here!

“You could feel the waves of emotion-stirring throughout the audience”

From beginning to end, you could feel the waves of emotion-stirring throughout the audience. And with immaculate cinematography from Dariusz, the entire film was a delight to watch.

The Last Duel

Proved so even more by the rapturous applause the film received when it concluded. In an age where every blockbuster film is either a sequel, prequel or remake, it was deeply satisfying to see an original big-budget epic. The world needs more original creative films and The Last Duel proves to be just that.

Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC is here with director Joe Wright for the screening of Cyrano. Seamus says The Tragedy Of Macbeth, which screened last night, is “a masterpiece”, and shares a photo of himself with the film’s DP Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC that embodies the cameraderie that Camerimage inspires!

In the afternoon we attended the unveiling of the Sony CineAlta Venice 2 camera, which DPs are going to find really interesting.

Claus Pfeifer leading the Sony Venice 2 launch

The highly-anticipated Venice 2 has a wide range of new features including: a newly-developed 8.6K Full-Frame sensor; increased dual base 800 and 3200 ISOs; 16 stops of latitude; a wide colour gamut, exceeding BT.2020 colour space; internal 16-bit X-OCN or 4K ProRes recording; and 8-step internal ND filters.

While the pictures from the Venice 2 offer improved roll-off and highlight handling, arguably the most impressive feature is the interchangeability of sensors between models – you can plug the original Venice into the Venice 2 if you need/want to. The Venice 2 has a smaller form factor and is lighter than the original Venice, and is sure to be welcomed by camera and drone operators alike.

“DPs are going to find the new Sony Venice 2 really interesting”

Following the reveal of the Venice 2 and its specs, cinematographer Rob Hardy BSC ASC presented a camera test to the audience titled Venicia, which is well worth a watch on YouTube.

Philippe Rousselot AFC ASC and Vika Safrigina from EB Comms

We then headed off to Cinema City to catch Netflix’s action comedy, Red Notice (dir: Rawson Marshall Thurber), followed by Q&A with its delightful DP Markus Förderer, moderated by Naida Albright from Red Digital Cinema.

Red Notice

The film was shot using Red cameras and Markus discussed how he used a blend of new and old-school Hollywood techniques, including vintage Panavision lenses from the 1950s that were the original focal lengths used on Ben-Hur (1959, dir. William Wyler, DP Robert Surtees ASC), along with filters, to capture a look that is reminiscent of older Hollywood action films.

Naida Albright from Red with DP Markus Förderer

Remarkably, the action-packed film did not include any blue or greenscreen effects, which Markus found to be an exciting challenge, noting that, “If you shoot something for real, then it feels real.” In a separate instance, Thurber has remarked that Markus has an artist’s eye and a technician’s mind, and that is abuntanly clear in how he talks in-depth about his work. 

Philippe Rousselot AFC ASC with Amy Vincent ASC, production designer Nelson Coates, and Alice Brooks ASC

In the late evening, Cooke Optics’ party helped to elevate the day’s excitement further, with a crowd of around 100 in one of the Bulwar’s smaller ballrooms, with many party-goers still buzzing about Red Notice.

Carey Duffy & David McFarland

Trevor Kossak of talent agency WPA expertly mixed drinks for his colleague Kristen Tolle, who will be appearing at the “Get Noticed” panel on Tuesday evening.

Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC with director Joe Wright and Ari Wegner ACS

Mexican favourite DP Xavier Grobert ASC moved around the room followed by a trail of admirers, many of whom are rising cinematographers of Spanish and LatinX backgrounds. Seamus took the “Best Suit” Award for his sublime, mustard-hued corduroy ensemble!

“Artists make their work to be seen,” says DP Anastas Michos ASC GSC

New York-based cinematographer Anastas Michos ASC GSC comforted filmmaker/publicist and EB Comms blogger, Vika Safrigina, who had been working on a short film with cinematographer Halyna Hutchins at the time of her death. Michos advised Vika that, “Artists make their work to be seen,” and gracefully encouraged Vika to keep going with the project, as it is something Halyna would have wanted.

Anastas Michos ASC GSC and Vika Safrigina

We also bumped into Larry Sher ASC, Amy Vincent ASC, Sebastian Thaler, Xavier Grobet and Alejandro Mejia and were variously in engaged, deep, meaningful and hilarious conversations. Hope you enjoy our snaps from the Cooke event! 

Amy Vincent ASC Janicza Bravo (dir ZOLA)

Emmanuel Bates Communications (www.EBComs.com) is a public relations and publicity firm that specialises in representing the world’s best behind-the-camera artists. With offices in Los Angeles, London and the bush, just outside Sydney, Australia, it delivers services to it’s valued clients worldwide.

Header Photo: DP Alice Brooks ASC & Production Designer Nelson Coates at Camerimage 2021, photo by Markus Förderer