32nd Manaki Brothers Cinematographers Film Festival THE AWARDS

 The “Golden camera 300” went to
The Turin horse from the cinematographer Fred Kelemen, who was among the favorites of the audience, judging by their first reactions.
Explanation by the jury “The Golden Camera 300 goes to the cinematographer Fred Kelemen, for the film The Turin horse, for his outstanding ability to capture the difficulty of the human`s life and the power of the film rolls to inbuilt all the nuances between black and white in the wondering above the sense and nonsense of human existence with the film camera. The award was granted by Goce Smilevski and received personally by the author.

Silver Camera 300 goes to
Silent Souls from the genuine from Russia, Mikhail Krichman.
Explantaion of the jury „The winner of the second prize this evening was earlier this year described by Quintin Tarantino as having created a ‘poetic story’. The jury could think of no better words to describe his brilliant cinematography. Something seems to have happened happen when he has turned on his camera which complements ideally the sadness and love of this mystical story.The award to the cinematographer of Silent Soul, the Russian cinematographer Mikhail Krichman  is richly deserved for the simplicity and power he has brought to create such memorable imagery.“
The award was granted by Kristina Depo, representative by the Sparkasse Bank (Official Sponsor) and received by the author himself.

The Bronze camera 300 went to
The Mill and the Cross from Lech Majewski, that left Bitola only a few days earlier.
Explanation by the jury: “The award Bronze Camera 300 goes to the cinematographers Lech Majewski and Adam Sikora that capture the expressiveness of the painting sheets  of Pieter Bruegel on the screen.

The Small golden camera 300 went to
The short film named Coral from the Argentinian cinematographer Jorge Crespo.

The official jury was composed of Dante Spinotti (president), Martin Schweighofer, Goce Smilevski, Eva Zaoralova and Nigel Walters.

The award from “New visions” :
“The film Shelter from Krum Rodriguez, because of the young team, as much as the innovative aesthetics that that entirely fits in the concept of the program.

The jury consisted of Julijana Mirchevska, Emilija Jovchevska and Dimitar Kolondjoski.

All the winners with at the center Festival Director Labina Mitevska

Miki Manojlovic winner of the Special Golden Camera 300

Manojlovic with Bitola's mayor and former actor Vlade Talewski

Extraordinary Serbian actor Miki Manojlovic, winner of the Special Golden Camera 300 for Outstanding Contribution to the World Film Art at the 32nd edition of Manaki Brothers. 

He has worked with Kusturica (Underground, Dad is away on business) and in a lot of European and International hits like  Emporte-moi (1998) by Lea Pool, Criminal Lovers (1999) by Francois Ozon, Epouse-moi (2000) by Harriet Marin, Mortel Transfert (2001) by Jean-Jacques Beineix, the film about the comic book hero – Largo Winch (2008) by Jerome Salle, the hit-comedy Irina Palm (2009) by Sam Garbaski and the controversial Besa. Apart from Manojlovic, at the closing, Besa director Srgjan Karanovic was greeted by the audience that remembers him as one of the cult directors in the Balkans.

Director Srgjan Karanovic with official festival selector Blagoja Kunovski 

 

Artist Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel awarded at 32nd Manaki talks upcoming Dark Shadows

Bruno Delbonnel reknown artist cinematographer (Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain, Harry Potter And The half Blood Prince, Faust) has been awarded with the prestigious Golden Camera 300 for his outstanding contribution to the art of film during the 32nd Manaki Brothers Cinematographers Film Festival.

Delbonnel held a master class that lasted almost 2 hours telling episodes and aneddoctes of his career and explained how he lighted his masterpieces showing sequences of his works. I was able to ask him about Tim Burton's upcoming new venture into horror Dark Shadows (the whole cast in the picture above) that he just wrapped last week. While he actually saw a black and white episode of the old series (a successful horror/soap that lasted for more than 300 episodes and was created by legendary Dan Curtis), he and Burton opted for a new way and approach. Delbonnel told that Burton was more interested in a dark comedy tone and was often referring to Mario Bava, whose works Delbonnel confessed he never saw. While the two have a different background, one citing Bergman and the other Bava, they really enjoyed work with each other and Delbonnel told about Burton's predisposition to accept suggestions from everybody in the crew.

More on the Manaki Brothers Cinematographers film festival

Milton Manaki statue in the park in front of the Bitola Cultural Center where the festival is held

The Manaki Brothers Cinematographers Film Festival takes place in the city of Bitola, Republic of Makedonia. The event is held every year and has wellcome during its long run the most famous cinematographers including Vittorio Storaro, Freddie Francis, Sven Nykvist, Tonino Delli Colli and more.

The festival is named after the great Milton Manaki who, with his brother Yanaki, took the first images in the Balkan region with their cameras from 1905. They opened the first cinema in Bitola and worked as photographers as well. Their works are considered a national treasure and their names were the natural choice for a Festival dedicated to cinematography. The selection is made combining the most awarded movies of the year of some that present an innovative or unique style from a photographic point of view. The selection goes towards the arthouse work more than commercial fare, and this year competition list is the following

 - Melancholia

- Mlyn I Krziz (The Mill and the Cross)

- Buried

- Venice

- Ovsyanki (Silent Souls)

- Bir Zamanlar Anadolu Da (Once upon time in Anatolia)

- Incendies

- ATorinoi Lo (The Turin Horse)

- Beli, Beli Svet (White White World)

- La prima cosa bella (The First beautiful Thing)

 
Festival Director
Labina Mitevska

Selectors
Main Competition  - 12 films
Awards: Golden, Silver and Bronze Camera 300
Selector: Blagoja Kunovski  - film critic

Short film program: 12 films
Awards: Small Golden Camera 300
Selector: Christian Guinot – Cremont Ferrand Short Film Festival

Documentary Program: 5 films
Non competitive
Selector: Gena Teodosievska - journalist

New visions: 5 films
Non competitive
Selector: Suncica Unevska – film crtic/journalis

New Visions Program

- Shelter

- The Other Side of Sleep 

- Zephyr 

- King's Road 

- Polisse 

- If Not US, Who?

Dante Spinotti receive prestigious lifetime achievement award at 32nd Manaki Brothers Cinematographers Film Festival

Dante Spinotti (left) receiving the prize from the President of Republic of Makedonia

Last Saturday, master cinematographer Dante Spinotti, whose credits include such high profile films like Heat, Last of the Mohicans, LA Confidential, just to name few, has been awarded with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award Golden CAMERA 300 at the 32nd Manaki Brothers Cinematographers Film Festival, a unique event in film circles dedicated to cinematography. The event is still running in the city of Bitola, Makedonia. Spinotti gave a couple of days ago a Master Class showing scenes frome his movies and telling how he achieved to light them. The Master Class was so successful that a second part has been scheduled for next Friday. I filmed the whole class and plan to post it soon in two parts. 
(photo courtesy of official festival photographer Aleksandar Grozdanovski)