‘Fatherland’ Wins Top Camerimage Prize as ‘Wild Horse Nine’ Nabs Audience Award

Fatherland and Wild Horse Nine were among the top honorees at the 34th Camerimage Film Festival, held in Toruń, Poland, which celebrates cinematography.

During Saturday’s closing ceremony for the festival that changed its name earlier this year to ToruńCamerimage, Fatherland cinematographer Lukasz Zal was awarded the Golden Frog for the main competition, with director Pawel Pawlikowski’s film picking up momentum as an Academy Award contender in the category. Representing Poland’s selection for the international feature Oscar, Fatherland centers on Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann (played by Hanns Zischler) and daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) taking a road trip through Germany amid the Cold War.

Cinematographer Jasper J. Spanning won the Silver Frog for director May El-Toukhy’s Woman Unknown, while Mikhail Krichman was awarded the Bronze Frog for director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur.

The audience award went to director Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, shot by Ben Davis. John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell star in the comedic spy thriller that holds major Oscar aspirations.

For the Cinematographers’ Debuts competition, the Golden Frog went to Eira Wyn Jones for Effi O Blaenau from director Tereza Nvotova. Kaifeng Zhong collected the Directors’ Debuts Golden Frog for Atlantic Rhapsody.

In the nonfiction categories, the Golden Frog for Documentary Features competition went to Eva Kraljevic for director Petar Glomazic’s To Hold a Mountain. For the Documentary Shorts competition, Maxim Arbugaev and Vladimir Egorov picked up the Golden Frog for director Evgenia Arbugaeva’s Chuuraa.

For the TV Series Competition, cinematographer Maciej Sobieraj was awarded the Golden Frog for Silent Night, helmed by Jan Holoubek. The Golden Frog in the Music Videos Competition went to Jeff Bierman for director (LA)HORDE’s “What You Want.”

In Poland’s national race, cinematographer Alan Ruczyński collected the Golden Frog for his work on directors Eliza Godlewska and Alan Ruczyński’s A Free Woman.

Closing out the ceremony was the Film and Art School Etudes Competition, with cinematographer Francesca Avanzini claiming the Golden Tadpole for director Paoli de Luca’s Revolver. Paul Ader picked up the Silver Tadpole for Konstantin Münzel’s Nika’s Room. Enrico Barbaro Jr. received the Bronze Tadpole for Marco Araujo’s Until We Bury Them!