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 16 to 23 November 2024 in Toruà Â, Poland, to recognize and reward the best in cinematography in film, television and music videos.
Steve McQueen's historical war drama Blitz will serve as the festival's opening film, while the first half of Jon M. Chu's two-part musical fantasy film Wicked will close the festival. Both films will be honoured with special awards for their director and production designer, respectively.
On 6 June 2024, Australian actress Cate Blanchett was announced as the jury president for the main competition. Later, on 19 September, Blitz was revealed as the opening film, while the following month, on 10 October, Wicked was announced as the closing film. The films competing in the main competition were revealed in groups of three, finally announcing the complete lineup on 30 October. The festival's poster was designer by Polish illustrator and graphic artist Marcin Wolski and was inspired by aurora borealis and Toruà Â's gothic architecture.
A special screening of Pablo LarraÃÂn's biographical film Maria, shot by Edward Lachman, will take place during the festival. Additionally, to celebrate the thirty year anniversary of American film studio Searchlight Pictures, six films from the studio will be screened. British filmmaker Steve McQueen is set to be awarded with the Outstanding Director Award. English production designer Nathan Crowley will receive the Special Award for Production Designer. Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada will receive the inaugural Best TV Series Performance award for his work in FX' historical drama series Shà Âgun, while Italian-American documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi will be honoured with the Outstanding Achievements in Documentary Filmmaking award. American film editor and director William Goldenberg will receive the Film Editor award and will screen his directorial debut Unstoppable as a part of the special screenings.
Among the special screenings, the festival announced the world premiere of Joel Souza's western film Rust. The decision to include the film within the festival was met with controversy, due to the shooting incident that took place during the movie's filming, where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot. Multiple cinematographers expressed their discontent with the film's premiere in the festival, with some deeming it "distasteful" and considering it not an appropriate way to honour Hutchins work.
In November 2024, the festival's director Marek à »ydowicz wrote an op-ed for Cinematography World, where he expressed his thoughts on the changes in the industry, including the growing number of female directors and cinematographers. Some of à »ydowicz comments were met with backlash from various cinematographers as well as the British Society of Cinematographers, who released an article where they expressed their disapproval, writing "we are disheartened and angered by your profoundly misogynistic comments and aggressive tone, which we view as symptomatic of a deep-rooted prejudice". à »ydowicz issued an apology, describing the situation as a "misunderstanding", also writing "I assure you that we will prevent this kind of ambiguity from occurring in our communications in the future". Director Steve McQueen, who was a guest of honor for this year's festival and was set to receive a special award, announced he was no longer attending the festival. Similarly, director Coralie Fargeat and cinematographer Benjamin KraÃÂun announced they were pulling their film The Substance out of the competition and were also not attending the festival.
The jury members were as follows:
The films and projects selected for each announced section are as follows: