2024 Camerimage Film Festival: Danish Oscar Entry ‘The Girl With the Needle’ Wins Golden Frog
The acclaimed Danish period horror drama The Girl with the Needle, shot by cinematographer Michal Dymek, took home the Camerimage Film Festival’s Golden Frog Saturday night in Toruń, Poland. The winner was selected by a jury led by two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett.
This year’s jury made a point of adding a “special mention” for The Girl with the Needle‘s 40-year-old director, Magnus von Horn.
The black and white period thriller, shot in a 3:2 ratio, is loosely based on the true story of Danish serial killer Dagmar Overbye, who helped impoverished women kill their unwanted children in 1910s Copenhagen. In his review of the Danish selection for the International Feature Film Oscar, Mina Takla called the film “stunning” and “striking.”
The 32nd International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage, also named EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2024 for its sponsorship from Polish power company Energa, took place from November 16 to 23, 2024 and recognizes and rewards the best in cinematography in film, television and music videos.
The Camerimage jury awarded the Silver Frog to British DP Lol Crawley for his work on Brady Corbet’s monumental immigrant artist epic The Brutalist. The film was shot on film in the retro VistaVision format, “a giant canvas amply justified by the narrative’s variegated textures.”
The third place Bronze Frog went to Paul Guilhaume for Emilia Pérez, the Cannes-winning Mexican cartel musical from Jacques Audiard and starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz.
The Golden Frog in the Directors’ Debuts Competition was awarded to Sandhya Suri for her India-set police procedural Santosh, which is the U.K.’s submission for the International Feature Film Oscar. The Golden Frog in the Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition went to Todd Martin for Tatami, an Iranian-Israeli sports drama shot in black and white and co-directed by Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv.
The Grand Prix for the documentary features competition was awarded to Elizabeth Lo, director and DP of the Chinese-American doc Mistress Dispeller, while singer/songwriter/director Taylor Swift’s music video for “Fortnight” won the prize for cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto. In television, Robert Elswit repeated his Emmy win with the award here for Netflix’s Ripley limited series.
The Jury of the International Federations of Film Critics awarded its prize for Best Film to the Austrian-German historical horror drama The Devil’s Bath, with cinematography by Martin Gschlacht and direction from Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala.
Earlier in the week in Toruń, Camerimage’s lifetime achievement honor was awarded to legendary cinematographer Ed Lachman (Carol, Maria, The Virgin Suicides, Light Sleeper, The Limey) and a new award for television performance went to Shōgun star Hiroyuki Sanada.
See below for the full list of the 2024 Camerimage Film Festival’s main competition jury prize winners.
Golden Frog: The Girl with the Needle
Cin. MICHAŁ DYMEK
Dir. Magnus von Horn
Silver Frog: The Brutalist
Cin. LOL CRAWLEY
Dir. Brady Corbet
Bronze Frog: Emilia Pérez
Cin. PAUL GUILHAUME
Dir. Jacques Audiard
Jury of the International Federations of Film Critics Award for Best Film: The Devil’s Bath
Cin. MARTIN GSCHLACHT
Dir. Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Cinematographers’ Debuts, Golden Frog: Tatami
Cin. TODD MARTIN
Dir. Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Guy Nattiv
Directors’ Debuts, Golden Frog: Santosh
Dir. SANDHYA SURI
Documentary Features Competition, Golden Frog: Mistress Dispeller
Cin. ELIZABETH LO
Dir. ELIZABETH LO
Documentary Shorts Competition, Golden Frog: Shotplayer
Cin. J. DANIEL ZÚÑIGA
Dir. Sam Shainberg
Music Videos Competition, Grand Prix: Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” (Feat. Post Malone)
Cin. RODRIGO PRIETO
Dir. TAYLOR SWIFT
TV Series Competition, Golden Frog: “Ripley: A Hard Man to Find”
Cin. ROBERT ELSWIT
Dir. Steven Zaillian
Polish Films Competition, Golden Frog: Scarborn
Cin. PIOTR SOBOCIŃSKI JR
Dir. PAWEŁ MAŚLONA
Audience Award: Tatami
Cin. TODD MARTIN
Dir. Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Guy Nattiv
The Golden Tadpole Award: cin. TIN BRENDEL from Łódź Film School for Orchid dir. by TIN BRENDEL.
The Silver Tadpole Award: cin. DANIEL LE HAI from Krzystof Kieslowski Film School for I am Not Here dir. by DANIEL LE HAI.
The Bronze Tadpole Award: cin. LISA JILG from Filmakademie Baden-Wittenberg for Titans dir. by JANNIK WEIßE.
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