Coralie Fargeat has pulled her Cannes sensation The Substance from Camerimage in response to recent remarks by festival director Marek Żydowicz about representation of female filmmakers.
The Polish cinematography festival kicks off on Saturday and Fargeat’s film had been scheduled to screen on Sunday afternoon with cinematographer Benjamin Kračun in attendance. Kračun will now not attend, just as Steve McQueen said earlier this week he will stay away from the opening night presentation of his film Blitz, which will go ahead,
On Friday Fargeat and Kračun issued a statement to Screen that read: “After discovering the highly misogynistic and offensive words of the director of the Camerimage Film Festival, I have decided to pull The Substance from the festival (and Benjamin Kračun has decided not to attend).
“The Substance is about the impact of exactly these types of behaviours on our world. We shouldn’t tolerate them anymore. We send our support to all involved in the festival and hope this decision will help create a much-needed change.”
The move comes after Żydowicz sparked controversy in a column in Cinematography World on November 8 in which he acknowledged the growing recognition of female cinematographers and directors to be “crucial as it rectifies the obvious injustice present in societal development”.
Żydowicz went on to add: “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?”
His remarks triggered open letters of protest from British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) and The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) last weekend. BSC said it was “disheartened and angered by your profoundly misogynistic comments and aggressive tone”, while ASC noted, “Sadly, your article represents an outdated notion of male superiority in the field and equates fairer gender representation with a drop in artistic values.”
Responding to BSC, Żydowicz wrote on the Camerimage website that the body’s statement was “entirely misplaced and quite offensive. If these accusations were indeed true, this festival would simply no longer exist. Respect for others has always been my priority, and it remains one for our festival as well”.
The festival director added that he had been in talks with Women in Cinematography about helping the festival grow and said they had written up a diversity and inclusion policy, “which we were planning to publish shortly.”
Women in Cinematography, which was formed earlier this year to increase female representation in the industry, has called for changes to Camerimage, including among other things full transparency of selection committees, an advisory board to implement a diversity and inclusion policy, and training for management teams, selection committees and juries about unconscious bias. Jury chair
Writing on Cinematography World earlier this week, the group noted that both Mudbound in 2018 and The Power Of The Dog in 2021, featuring Oscar-nominated work by cinematographers Rachel Morrison and Ari Wegner, did not play in competition and were given special screening slots, while Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, for which Claire Mathon won the César award for cinematography in 2020, did not play the festival at all.
“Can Camerimage claim to be first and foremost about artistic merit,” the group wrote, “when it overlooks these brilliant and lauded achievements?”
The Camerimage jury including Cate Blanchett issued a statement that read, ”We look forward to being part of meaningful discussions with our peers at the festival about greater inclusion and recognition of excellence in all its forms in our industry.”
Mubi holds right for The Substance in North America, UK & Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux, Turkey and India, while Mubi-owned The Match Factory is handling sales for all remaining territories. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley star in the body horror about a fading star who takes a black market drug that promises temporary rejuvenation.
As previously announced, Camerimage will present the world premiere of Rust, the western shrouded in tragedy after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died on set in October 2021 when a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin went off and fatally struck her. Some in the cinematography community, including Morrison, have expressed dismay over the selection and said it is inappropriate.
Camerimage runs November 16-23.
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