The British Society of Cinematographers and Women In Cinematography among those to criticise head of film festival

Camerimage

There has been industry backlash to Camerimage director Marek Żydowicz’s op-ed in Cinematography World, which the British Society of Cinematographers has described as ”misogynistic” and “aggressive” in tone.

Ahead of the 2024 Cameraimage film festival, which gets underway later this month, Żydowicz wrote an op-ed for Cinematography World which outlined his view on how the industry is changing and how film festivals can react to this. The magazine has released a statement explaining that the views of the piece are the author’s own, and not endorsed by it, and Żydowicz has apologised for the, “misunderstanding”.

In a notable section of the article, Żydowicz writes about the growing number of women cinematographers and directors, and comments, “Can we sacrifice works and artists with outstanding artistic achievements solely to make room for mediocre productions?”. He adds, “While EnergaCamerimage strives to acknowledge the contributions of women in cinematography, it also aims to maintain artistic integrity. Change? Yes, but let’s remain decent and honest. It’s about rapid evolution, not a fanatical revolution that destroys the cathedrals of art and throws out its sculptures and paintings.”

The British Society of Cinematographers has written an open letter criticising this, stating, “We are disheartened and angered by your profoundly misogynistic comments and aggressive tone, which we view as symptomatic of a deep-rooted prejudice. A film festival dedicated to the support and encouragement of cinematography and its practitioners deserves better.” This has been supported by the American Society of Cinematographers.

Żydowicz replied to BSC, saying, “the accusations made against me in the statement published on BSC website are entirely misplaced and quite offensive,” and, “I am very sorry that BSC misinterpreted my comments”. He also mentions a new Diversity and Inclusion Policy created in partnership with Women In Cinematography.

However, Women In Cinematography said in a statement, “We reject this campaign being used by Mr Żydowicz as a demonstration of the festival’s commitment to diversity or to shield Camerimage Festival from rightful criticism, as was attempted in his 9th November response to the BSC’s open letter. These events only came about as a result of our activism and public and international pressure. In outlining its defence, the festival published a new Diversity and Inclusion policy which was in fact drafted by WIC and delivered to the festival on 28th September. It remained unpublished until the recent backlash against the Cinematography World article, and was posted without acknowledgement of its origins or credit for the women who wrote it.”

The statement also says, “Camerimage’s historical exclusion of all but a few women is the very reason that Women in Cinematography – a collective of filmmakers from across the globe – was formed earlier this year.” It adds, “There have been repeated failed attempts by several organisations to persuade Camerimage to implement broader inclusion initiatives beyond the occasional diversity panel,” and made a series of recommendations for the festival to put in place.

Women In Cinematography recommendations

 - Full transparency of the selection committees; publish names and photographs
 - Creation of a meaningful selection policy to ensure fair representation in competitions
 - Creation of an advisory board to oversee and implement the original D&I policy
 - Extensive cooperation with organisations representing minorities in the film business
 - Training management teams, selection committees and juries about unconscious bias and how to use inclusive language and behaviours
 - Revise your competition categories to diversify those eligible to submit. For instance, introduce a mid-range feature competition so that it is not a choice between a debut feature or big budget, where minority groups have historically been excluded. We also suggest opening the TV competition to include later episodes and not restrict submissions to the pilot.
 - Engage scouts to actively seek excellent work from underrepresented groups

Two days after his statement to BSC, Żydowicz made another statement, in which he says, “Many have read an excerpt from my statement cited in Cinematography World article. It was never my intention to undermine the achievements of any filmmakers, whose work I deeply appreciate and respect. Whether this misunderstanding stemmed from an unfortunate choice of words or inaccurate translation from Polish is irrelevant.

“I apologize for this misunderstanding. I assure you that we will prevent this kind of ambiguity from occurring in our communications in the future.”