Mike Mills’ A24 film C’mon C’mon triumphed at the 2021 EnergaCamerimage Film Festival, celebrating the art of cinematography—claiming its high honor, the Golden Frog, along with its Audience Award.
Cinematographer Robbie Ryan’s Golden Frog win gives him new momentum as a 2022 Oscar contender, on the heels of his first nomination in 2019 for his work on Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite. While only handful of past winners since the festival’s founding in 1993 have gone on to secure the Best Cinematography Oscar, 12 of 30 have nabbed nominations. And over the last eight years, 5 winners have gone on to nominations—most recently, Joshua James Richards with Nomadland, and Lawrence Sher with Joker.
In Mills’ film, which opened in theaters across North America yesterday, Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny, a radio journalist whose latest project has him interviewing children across the U.S. about the state of affairs in the world. Johnny forges a tenuous but transformational relationship with his 8-year-old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman)—the son of his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann)—when he winds up taking on his travels from Los Angeles to New York to New Orleans.
This year at Camerimage, which took place in in Toruń from the 13th to the 20th of November, The Tragedy of Macbeth DP Bruno Delbonnel received the second-place prize (the Silver Frog), with Dune DP Greig Fraser taking Bronze. Other notable winners included director Nabil Ben Yadir’s Animals, which took the FIPRESCI Award, and Julia Ducournau’s French Oscar contender Titane, which won the prize for Best Director’s Debut.
Check out the full list of winners below.
MAIN COMPETITION
Golden Frog: C’mon C’mon
cin. Robbie Ryan
dir. Mike Mills
Silver Frog: The Tragedy of Macbeth
cin. Bruno Delbonnel
dir. Joel Coen
Bronze Frog: Dune
cin. Greig Fraser
dir. Denis Villeneuve
FIPRESCI AWARD
Animals
cin. Frank van den Eeden
dir. Nabil Ben Yadir
POLISH FILMS COMPETITION
Best Polish Film: Operation Hyacinth
cin. Piotr Sobociński Jr.
dir. Piotr Domalewski
FILM AND ART SCHOOL ETUDES COMPETITION
Laszlo Kovacs Student Award – Golden Tadpole – The Howling
cin. Max Bugajak
dir. Bartosz Brzeziński
school: Warsaw Film School
Silver Tadpole: Tala’vision
cin. Philip Henze
dir. Murad Abu Eisheh
school: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Bronze Tadpole: Cold Blow Lane
cin. Christopher Behrman
dir. Luca Homolka
school: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES COMPETITION
Golden Frog — best feature documentary: My Voice Will Be With You
cin. Tristan Galand
dir. Bruno Tracq
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS COMPETITION
Golden Frog — best short documentary: Survive
cin. Jacob Friedrich Maria Kohl
dir. Lara Milena Brose, Kilian Armando Friedrich
DIRECTORS’ DEBUTS COMPETITION
Best Director’s Debut: Titane
cin. Ruben Impens
dir. Julia Ducournau
CINEMATOGRAPHERS’ DEBUTS COMPETITION
Best Cinematographer’s Debut: Bipolar
cin. Yuming Ke
dir. Queena Li
MUSIC VIDEOS COMPETITION
Best Music Video: Kuba Kawalec & Ana Andrzejewska “Zdechłam”
cin. Kacper Fertacz
dir. Zuzanna Plisz
TV SERIES COMPETITION
Best Episode: Welcome to Utmark: Eye for an Eye
cin. Andreas Johannessen
dir. Dagur Kári
AUDIENCE AWARD
C’mon C’mon
cin. Robbie Ryan
dir. Mike Mills