Skopje, 1 September 2023 (MIA) - Award-winning cinematographer Seamus McGarvey is the winner of the Special Golden Camera 300 for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinematic Art at the 44th edition of the Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers' Film Festival to be held September 23-29 in Bitola.  

Director of ICFF Manaki Brothers, Simeon Moni Damevski, told Friday's press conference that the festival will showcase more than 70 films as part of several competition programs. The main program includes 12 films, which tell existential human stories against the dominance of technology today.

According to Damevski, this year's winner of the Special Golden Camera 300 is the cinematographer whose signature work includes films produced in his long-lasting cooperation with director Joe Wright (‘Atonement’, ‘Anna Karenina’, ‘Cyrano’); ‘Nocturnal Animals’ (directed by Tom Ford); ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ (directed by Lynne Ramsay); ‘World Trade Center’ (directed by Oliver Stone); ‘The Hours’ (directed by Stephen Daldry); ‘High Fidelity’ (directed by Stephen Frears); ‘Butterfly Kiss’ (directed by Michael Winterbottom); as well as the episode ‘Nosedive’ from the Black Mirror series that won him an EMI and a BAFTA nomination for best photography (cinematography). 

"McGarvey has two Oscar nominations for best photography (cinematography) – for ‘Atonement’ (2007), and for ‘Anna Karenina’ (2012). He has won the BSC award twice, for ‘Anna Karenina’ and ‘Nocturnal Animals’ (Tom Ford) and was a BAFTA award nominee four times. In 2004, the British Royal Photographic Society awarded him the Lumière Medal for Major Achievement in British Cinematography," said Damevski. 

In addition to McGarvey, three Oscar winners will attend this year's festival edition including this year's Oscar winner, James Friend, winner of the Golden Camera 300 for Life Achievement, Peter Biziou, and Oscar-nominated cinematographer of Todd Phillips' 'Joker', Lawrence Sher. 

Speaking at the press conference, the film selectors announced the program for the 44th edition of the festival, highlighting a rich and gripping selection of films.

In addition to the Macedonian films that will open and close this year's festival, Goran Stolevski's 'Housekeeping for Beginners' and Igor Aleksov's 'Lena and Vladimir', the selector of the Camera 300 program for full-length films, Slagjan Penev, announced at the press conference Aki Kaurismäki's proletarian comedy-drama 'Fallen leaves', in tandem with his regular cinematographer Timo Salminen, who will be a guest at the festival, the mystical search for the elusive in the photography and music of Wim Wenders, 'Perfect days, in collaboration with director of photography Franz Lustig, who will also attend the festival in Bitola, the ruminative Chekhovian drama by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 'About Dry Grasses', in collaboration with cinematographers Kürşat Üresin and Cehavir Şahin who will also appear at the screening in Bitola, Justine Triet's Hitchcockian thriller 'Anatomy of a Fall', which won the Palme d'Or at the latest Cannes Film Festival, with cinematographer Simon Beaufils, as well as Wes Anderson's rich symphony of stars and style 'Asteroid City', with cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman.

The selectors of the short, documentary and student programs, Marija Apchevska, Kumjana Nikolova and Gjorgji Pulevski, announced the selections in their programs, including the documentary film 'Man in Black' by Wang Bing, whose cinematographer, Caroline Champetier, known for her collaborations with Leos Carax (HOLY MOTORS), will also be a guest at the festival.

Simeon Moni Damevski noted that the focus of this year's festival edition is on films that talk about human subjects, ordinary people who are interesting to watch, and in which the skill of the cinematographer depends on the skill in moving the camera, positioning it and using the light at disposal without additional computer technology. 

Photo: MIA