On the 18th of September, 2018, during the 43rd Gdynia Film Festival, the ceremonial Polish Film Institute Award gala was held for the eleventh time.
The Polish Society of Cinematographers (PSC) and the magazine FilmPRO won the Polish Film Institute Awards in the category Film Education for organising a series of cinematography workshops in 2017.
PSC and FilmPRO organised a joint series of cinematography workshops. These workshops were given by the leading Polish film-makers: Bogdan Dziworski, Marcin Koszałka, Tomasz Naumiuk and Arkadiusz Tomiak. The events gathered a total of over 300 participants from all over Poland.
One series of meetings was organized in co-operation with the Krakow Film Festival. On the 1st of June, 2017, as an accompanying event of the workshop My Street Films during the KFF Industry within the frames of the 57th edition of the KFF, there was held the award-winning cinematography workshop “Arri Amira in the creative documentary,” using the Arri Amira cameras with the Angenieux Optimo lens. The workshops were conducted under the guidance of eminent documentary film-makers and cameramen, Marcin Koszałka and Bogdan Dziworski. The participants of the workshops could learn how to consciously create the depth of image and the protagonist, without using a large amount of equipment and lighting. The participants of the workshops had the opportunity to participate in the presentation by Oliver Temmler from the Arri company about the capabilities of Amira cameras. The created materials were colour-corrected in Laboratorium Mutilab in Krakow Technology Park, which was the partner of the event.
The award-winning series of workshops is a continuation of the 2016 activities and its aim is to discover the secrets of cinematography and get acquainted with the new film equipment available on the market. The workshops are addressed to students, young film-makers but also to experienced cameramen. Thanks to the co-operation of the leading producers of film equipment (among others, Angenieux, Arri, Canon, Leica, RED, Sony, Panasonic, Panavision) the participants have access to the latest technologies which are entering the market (often these are prototypes).
The workshops become a platform for sharing knowledge and experience among the cinematographers, young film-makers and students. Similar initiatives are implemented with far higher budgets in the wealthiest cinematographies of the world. In Poland, they are possible thanks to the unique co-operation of numerous companies, institutions from the audiovisual sector and the best technologists and image engineers. In an era of rapidly changing technology, the film-makers can safely test the latest tools on the set as well as in the post-production process (most of the workshops have a part dedicated to colour-correcting the recorded materials).
Thanks to the workshops, we can familiarise ourselves with the strengths and weaknesses of individual film tools, as well as learn how we can use them in professional film-making. Identifying the capabilities of each type of equipment is intended to broaden the palette of means of expression as well as to defend the film craftsmanship of the highest quality. The workshops do not concentrate only on technology, but also on the type of photography (e.g. underwater photography), they often take place in co-operation with festivals.
You can find more information about the workshops here.