Camerimage: Leading Cinematography Union Criticizes Festival Director Over Controversial Op-Ed & Denounces “Historical Exclusion” Of Women At Event

deadline.com:

Women in Cinematography — the popular and influential union that represents women cinematographers across the globe — has become the latest industry organization to publicly criticize Camerimage Film Festival head Marek Żydowicz for comments he made last week in a magazine op-ed.

In the article titled ‘Time for Solidarity’, published in the craft magazine Cinematography World, Żydowicz outlined the path he believes the cinematography-focused festival can take as the wider film industry continues to change at speed.

The greatest change, Żydowicz hypothesized, was the growing prominence of women cinematographers and directors. The thesis of Żydowicz’s article, however, was quicklydenounced by industry professionals and unions who said it was sexist.

In the first public statement to criticize the article, the British Society of Cinematographers said Żydowicz’s words represented an “outdated notion of male superiority in the field and equate fairer gender representation with a drop in artistic values.” The BSC highlighted an early portion of the article where Żydowicz writes: “‘Can we sacrifice works and artists with outstanding artistic achievements solely to make room for mediocre productions?” Another portion of Żydowicz’s article that was widely criticized online by filmmakers such as Reed Morano and Fabian Wagner read: “While EnergaCamerimage strives to acknowledge the contributions of women in cinematography, it also aims to maintain artistic integrity.