Coralie Fargeat Pulls ‘The Substance’ From Camerimage Lineup Over Festival Director’s Controversial Op-Ed About Women Cinematographers

deadline.com:

French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat has pulled her latest feature The Substance from Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival following the fallout of a controversial op-ed written by the festival’s founder and head Marek Żydowicz.

Fargeat posted a short statement on her X account this morning announcing the move. The filmmaker also said the film’s DoP Benjamin Kračun would not be traveling to the cinematography-focused festival.

Kračun had been scheduled to take part in Q&A sessions at the festival.  “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 [director of photography] Benjamin Kračun has decided not to attend),” Fargeat wrote.  “‘The Substance’ is about the impact of exactly these types of behaviors 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.” pic.twitter.com/HLkBV6VaWp In his much-criticized article titled ‘Time for Solidarity’, published last week 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.