Warwick Thornton was awarded the Golden Frog at Poland’s Camerimage International Film Festival on Saturday (November 18) for drama The New Boy.
The Australian Indigenous filmmaker received the festival’s top prize at a ceremony in the Polish town of Torun, where the director was recognised for his role as cinematographer on the film. Accepting the award, Thornton paid tribute to his fellow filmmakers and said: “I’ve had tears in my eyes the whole week and it’s not because of the alcohol or the cold weather. It’s the love of cinematography, and I truly didn’t realise that I will forever be a student. And that is the most beautiful thing about what we do. We will always be students of this craft and this art, so thank you.”
The New Boy is set in 1940s Australia and stars Cate Blanchett (who also serves as a producer) as a nun who takes in a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy, played by newcomer Aswan Reid. It premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and opened Sydney Film Festival in June.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The Silver Frog went to US cinematographer Ed Lachman for his work on Pablo Larraín’s El Conde, a high-concept Netflix drama featuring Augusto Pinochet as an ageing vampire that debuted at Venice. Lachman previously won the Golden Frog in 2015 for Todd Haynes’ Carol.
Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan won the Bronze Frog for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, which also scooped the festival’s audience award. Ryan has been feted several times by Camerimage, having previously won the Bronze Frog in 2011 for Wuthering Heights; the audience award for The Favourite in 2018; and the Golden Frog and audience award for C’mon C’mon in 2021.
The Fipresci Award went to Polish cinematographer Lukasz Zal for Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, which won the Fipresci prize when it premiered in Competition at Cannes. Zal previously won the Golden Frog in 2013 with Ida.
The Golden Frog for best documentary feature was won by Mexico-based cinematographer Ernesto Pardo for Tatiana Huezo’s The Echo, which previously won the Berlinale Documentary Award.
The 31st edition of Camerimage took place from November 11-18 and also honoured Peter Dinklage with the Festival Director’s Award for an Actor. The Game Of Thrones star introduced the festival’s closing night film, Rebeca Miller’s She Came to Me, in which he also stars.
Further honorary prizes went to Krzysztof Zanussi, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award for a director, and the Brothers Quay, given the award for directors with unique visual sensitivity. The cinematographer/director duo award went to Peter Zeitlinger Werner Herzog, while Jenny Beavan received a special award for achievements in costume design and Floria Sigismondi was honoured with an award for directing achievements in music videos.
Camerimage 2023 winners
Golden Frog
The New Boy
cin. Warwick Thornton
dir. Warwick Thornton
Silver Frog
El Conde
cin. Ed Lachman
dir. Pablo Larraín
Bronze Frog
Poor Things
cin. Robbie Ryan
dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Fipresci Award
The Zone of Interest
cin. Łukasz Żal
dir. Jonathan Glazer
Best Polish Film
Doppelgänger. The Double
cin. Bartłomiej Kaczmarek
dir. Jan Holoubek
Audience Award
Poor Things
cin. Robbie Ryan
dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Best Feature Documentary - Golden Frog
The Echo
cin. Ernesto Pardo
dir. Tatiana Huezo
Best Short Documentary - Golden Frog
Oasis
cin. Myriam Payette
dir. Justine Martin
Best Director’s Debut
Inshallah a Boy
cin. Kanamé Onoyama
dir. Amjad Al-Rasheed
Best Cinematographer’s Debut
A Song Sung Blue
cin. Jiayue Hao
dir. Zihan Geng
TV Series: Best Episode
The Offer – A Seat at the Table
cin. Salvatore Totino
dir. Dexter Fletcher
Best Music Video
Son Lux “Undertow”
cin. Drew Bienemann
dir. Alex Cook
Film and Art School Etudes Competition
Laszlo Kovacs Student Award - Golden Tadpole
Cremation, Or The Quarantine Hotel
cin. Wen Lau
dir. Ning Qian
school: National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA)
Silver Tadpole
Plastic Touch
cin. Celia Morales
dir. Aitana Ahrens
school: The Madrid Film School (ECAM)
Bronze Tadpole
Poor Boy Long Way from Home
cin. Tuur Oosterlinck
dir. Jonas Hollevoet
school: Sint-Lucas School of Arts, Brussel (LUCA)
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