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Blitz director Steve McQueen has dropped out of Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival following a controversial editorial about female cinematographers written by the festival’s founder and CEO Marek Żydowicz in the days before the opening of the 32nd edition of the industry event dedicated to the art of cinematography.
“Having read Marek Zydowicz’s op-ed concerning female cinematographers, I have decided not to attend the opening night presentation of my film Blitz this weekend,” the filmmaker said in an exclusive statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Although he has issued an apology, I cannot get past what I consider deeply offensive words. I have enormous respect for cinematographers of all genders including women, and believe we have to do and demand better to make room for everyone at the table.”
The event was scheduled to kick off on Saturday with a screening of McQueen’s latest feature, with the Oscar-winning director in attendance. The film will still play as the opening night film but McQueen will not longer attend. He was also slated to receive the outstanding director award as part of the opening night ceremony. THR has reached out to Camerimage for comment.
Blitz follows 9-year-old George (Elliott Heffernan) in wartime London after his mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him as an evacuee to safety in the English countryside. Defiant and determined to get back home on his own to his mother and grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, George encounters real danger as a distraught Rita tries to find her footloose son. The film champions the resilience of women and tells the pivotal stories of them during World War II, and proves that mothers will stop at nothing in their love for their children.
Published in the latest edition of Cinematography World magazine, Żydowicz’s piece was written as a response to a September petition from Women in Cinematography, an international union representing female directors of photography across the globe, calling on Camerimage to better support the work of women cinematographers. But rather than commit to improving representation in the festival’s programming — as the leaders of the Cannes, Berlin and Tokyo film festivals have done in recent years — Żydowicz attempted to argue that admitting the work of more female DPs would somehow risk diminishing the event’s artistic quality.
“The film industry is undergoing rapid changes, affecting the cinematic image, its content, and aesthetics,” Żydowicz wrote. “One of the most significant changes is the growing recognition of female cinematographers and directors. This evolution is crucial as it rectifies the obvious injustice present in societal development. However, it also raises a question: Can the pursuit of change exclude what is good? Can we sacrifice works and artists with outstanding artistic achievements solely to make room for mediocre film production?”
The reaction to Żydowicz’s piece was almost immediate as word of his stance spread among the global cinematographer community.
The British Society of Cinematographers, the craft organization established in 1949, published a letter on its website that was blunt in its condemnation.
“The BSC wishes to express its disapproval of your recent article in Cinematography World,” the association’s “Open Letter to Żydowicz” read. “We are disheartened and angered by your profoundly misogynistic comments and aggressive tone, which we view as symptomatic of a deep-rooted prejudice.”
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) soon threw its support behind the BSC’s letter, with additional criticisms coming from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC), Association of Brazilian Cinematographers (ABC), Society of Camera Operators and Women Cinematographers Network (covering Germany, Austria & Switzerland).
Various other industry luminaries are expected at the event, including Cate Blanchett, who is serving as the president of the 2024 competition jury, Shogun star Hiroyuki Sanada, as well as several Oscar-frontrunner DPs, including Greig Fraser (Dune 2), Jarin Blaschke (Nosferatu), and Alice Brooks (Wicked), Lol Crawley (The Brutalist), Stéphane Fontaine (Conclave), Ed Lachman (Maria), Paul Guillaume (Emilia Perez), and many other leaders in the field.
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