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Cinematography Work at Camerimage Festival ‘Radically Different,’ Jury Members Say
Jurors at the EnergaCamerimage cinematography fest say the Golden Frog main competition films have been remarkably varied and inspiring in the event’s 32nd edition.
The 12 competing films “were radically different from each other,” said “Barbie” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, whose directorial debut, “Pedro Paramo,” is also screening at the fest. “I enjoyed that.”
The varied styles, approaches and storytellers, he added, defied easy categorization. “Happily, I didn’t notice trends, which I have noticed sometimes in the past in some festivals.”
Juror Anthony Dod Mantle, who won Golden Frogs in 2008 for his lensing of “Slumdog Millionaire” and in 2016 for “Snowden,” said, “I’ve been to this festival before and the overall collection of films and categories, I felt, was even wider. I feel slight absence of certain films from other ethnic backgrounds. They were different, these films, but they could be far more different.”
Greater diversity and inclusion in cinematography has justly been a hot topic this year at Camerimage, he added. “It’s good we embrace that, celebrate it here, because not many festivals do that.”
Dod Mantle described the current state of cinematography, based on what the jury’s seen this week, as “openly variable and that’s why we praise some films rather than others because they challenge convention.”
He also described the industry as “in a bit of a pickle,” adding, “We know that. We have to applaud ourselves and embrace and encourage every single essence of, molecule of, exploration and challenging cinema.”
Juror Lukasz Zal, who filmed “The Zone of Interest” and “Cold War,” said “I feel really inspired. I feel this kind of positive envy when you just see something which you admire, and love – cinema is still in good condition.”
And, he added, “I’m becoming hopeful that, OK, there’s still a lot to discover. For this, I really love Camerimage. When I was here, when I was a student, I was always coming back home after festival, with this feeling, kind of eager to work, to prepare and to just be really open and be full of ideas.”
Spending time here again as a top professional in his field, Zal said, “I feel again like a student.”
Juror Cate Blanchett said it’s clear cinematography has no crisis of creativity currently.
Instead, there’s a different issue: “The pickle is how one gets access and is able to see these films in the way that they’re intended to be seen.”
Technology advances in the field are also helping storytelling onscreen evolve, she added, rather than distracting from it. “Sometimes you can see there’s been huge technical advances made, or there’s been big innovations, and they haven’t yet been integrated into the stories that they’re being applied to. Whereas I thought there were so many films here that have really integrated the technology and in a completely adventurous and inventive way that was not pretentious. It was very interwoven and enmeshed with the performances and the stories.”
Jury duty at Camerimage is rewarding, said Dod Mantle, because the Golden Frog award can often help promising cinematographers break through to booming careers.
He described the potential effect of the award as “enormous.”
“The first time I came here, in competition,” he recalled, “it illustrated for me the jury was embracing cinema, celebrating something different and challenging.”
Cinematographers are keenly aware of the judgment of their peers, Dod Mantle added. “You feel quite vulnerable here. I’ve seen cinematographers leave the festival and go spend the weekend in Krakow and come back. The frog, ultimately is a beautiful thing celebrating our colleagues’ work.”
Juror Anna Higgs, a producer and columnist who works closely with BAFTA, said, “I think we should normalize cinematographers getting asked for their autographs – the fact that this frog is the idolized thing here.”
Blanchett added, “It’s very rare that you go to a festival where every single person in the auditorium sits right through the credit roll to the very end.” She noted “the respect that is shown to every single crewmember.”
Prieto recalled the impact of his own Golden Frog cinematography win in 2000 for “Amores Perros” fondly. “I do cherish that frog. It’s wonderful to get a frog, but more than anything, it’s a place where cinematography is the focus and is celebrated, and to share that obsession with so many people, and the energy of that, is really wonderful.”
Zal had a similar career boost, he said, after winning for lensing “Ida” by Pawel Pawlikowski in 2013. “That’s really the moment when somehow my career changed. I was always dreaming while having student films here. And it was beautiful to get an award from colleagues and being here and being among amazing cinematographers.
“I was put in competition with the people who I admire. Even now, sitting with Rodrigo, who for me was a huge inspiration. I was shooting my films in school inspired by ‘Amores Perros.’ Now we’re sitting together on the jury. That’s amazing, that’s beautiful.”
Blanchett described the close proximity of students and top international lensers as a unique strength of Camerimage, praising “the mentorship that goes on, how you’ll champion the works of other people.”
“I think that’s why it’s so vitally important that there’s an increased level of female participation. Because of the networking and mentorship opportunities and championing the work. The conversations and the opportunities that arise from those conversations are really important.”
Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell (“Shakespeare in Love,” “The Aviator” and “The Young Victoria”) and cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Jolanta Dylewska also served on the Camerimage jury, calling earlier this week for greater diversity and inclusion in the industry.
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By Alisa Shodiyev Kaff
June 11, 2026
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U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey resigned Thursday after clashing with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government over military spending, dealing the British leader a setback weeks before a critical NATO summit to include President Donald Trump.
Healey’s departure stemmed from a dispute over the delayed Defense Investment Plan (DIP) — the government’s long-promised roadmap for military investment and readiness — and as NATO allies face renewed pressure from Trump to boost defense spending.
“John Healey’s resignation is a seismic moment for the government and the Ministry of Defense,” Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Senior Associate Fellow Ed Arnold told Fox News Digital.
“For the government, it creates a sequence of political headaches in terms of a replacement, and trying to get the Defense Investment Plan published.”
BRITISH PM KEIR STARMER MOVES UK MILITARY INTO ‘WAR-FIGHTING READINESS’
Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey speaks with British and Norwegian naval personnel at the unveiling of the Atlantic Bastion programme in Portsmouth, Britain, on Dec. 4, 2025. (Peter Nicholls/Pool via Reuters)
Healey had been in intense, late-stage negotiations with Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves over the scale and timelines of the DIP.
Starmer reportedly refused to set out a timeline to reach 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense by 2035 — a promise he made to Trump at last year’s NATO summit — and would not commit to a firm date for reaching 3%.
Instead, Starmer offered Healey a deal to spend 2.68% of GDP on defense by 2030, up only marginally from 2.6% next year, Reuters reported.
“You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country,” Healey wrote to Starmer in his resignation letter, warning that the financial constraints would “make the country less safe,” the outlet reported.
NATO CHIEF URGES MEMBERS TO ‘TURBOCHARGE’ DEFENSE PRODUCTION AS HE PAINTS PICTURE OF A WORLD BOUND FOR WAR
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose with NATO country leaders during the NATO Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool via Reuters)
“If the delay to the Defense Investment Plan was already undermining the government’s credibility on defense, John Healey’s resignation has blown a hole in its side,” Professor Kevin Rowlands of the RUSI defense and security think tank told Fox News Digital.
“The immediate consequence is not just political embarrassment for No. 10, but a significant loss of planning certainty at a time when the British Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defense, and industry really need clarity on what will be funded, and when,” he added.
The political fallout is expected to reverberate across the Atlantic, where Washington has increased pressure on European allies to fulfill their defense obligations. Trump has frequently criticized NATO alliance members as “free riders.”
On June 3, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the upcoming Ankara summit would be the “most important meeting” in NATO’s history because there are some things “that need to be cleared up and fixed.”
He added, “The United States is still in the NATO alliance, and we’ll be there.”
TRUMP EFFECT FORCES GERMANY TO REPRIORITIZE DEFENSE AS NATION PLAYS CATCH-UP IN MILITARY SPENDING
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer increased the military presence in Cyprus following an Iranian drone strike early Monday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kin Cheung / POOL / AFP via Getty Images))
However, U.S. officials have made it clear that patience is wearing thin.
“Ahead of next month’s NATO summit, POTUS has been clear: Allies must fulfil their commitment to spending 5% of GDP on defense,” U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker posted on X this week.
Furthermore, a U.S. official noted that a U.K. funding package far lower than 18 billion pounds ($23 billion) would send a highly “negative” signal to Trump ahead of the Ankara meeting, according to The Times.
Starmer has pledged to lift spending to 3% in the next Parliament but Healey’s exit has exposed that the current strategy leaves the U.K. lagging behind key allies. By comparison, Germany plans to spend 3.7% of its GDP on defense by 2030.
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“Healey knows the threats we face, he knows the capabilities and shortfalls the armed forces have, and if he believes that the financial settlement is not enough to keep the country safe — to the extent that he cannot honorably stay in post — then we are in trouble,” Rowlands added.
“While the impact will mainly be felt on Whitehall, the international implications are severe with a NATO summit just three weeks away,” Arnold noted.
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After two years of strong performance driven by a shift to a war economy, Russia’s economic situation is weakening, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Euronews.
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And although the IMF raised its forecast for Russia’s 2026 growth in its April outlook from 0.8% to 1.1%, Georgieva told Euronews this did not reflect the full picture of the economic weakening.
“The higher oil prices do give a breather to Russia,” Georgieva said, arguing the hike cannot offset the bigger hit to Russia’s economy.
“They have depleted their buffers dramatically,” Georgieva said. The oil price windfall “appears to be used to rebuild buffers rather than to inject more investment into the economy,” she explained.
“Growth has slowed down significantly. Now we are projecting 1%. Before the war, their potential growth was 1.6%,” Georgieva pointed out.
The IMF managing director also told Euronews that it is important to consider other economic indicators to better understand Russia’s current economic situation.
“Inflation is high. That means that interest rates are high, almost 15%.”
The IMF does not expect to see “material impact on growth in Russia,” Georgieva said. “It is a country whose medium (and) long-term prospects have worsened significantly.”
She listed three grounds on which the prospects have worsened. The first is losing people.
“A country that was in a demographic decline to begin with now lost so many young people for a terrible reason,” Georgieva explained.
The second factor is the sanctions, specifically the way they “bite a lot on the technology front.”
“What we see in the oil and gas sector in Russia, there is a tremendous problem with lack of technological renewal that is restricting the ability of the sector to expand,” she said.
And the third is the fact that “Russia lost standing.”
“That translates into many tangible and non-tangible losses. I mean, just think of the young Russians that could have built relations with Europeans and others and did not because of the war,” Georgieva stated.
“So, on the whole, Russia is coming crippled,” she concluded.
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