(Credits: Far Out / MUBI)
One of 2024’s most notable body horror films, The Substance, will no longer appear at Camerimage Film Festival in Poland. The film’s director, Coralie Fargeat, has chosen to remove her work from the festival after its director made regressive comments about female filmmakers and cinematographers.
First founded back in 1993, the Camerimage Film Festival is currently under the leadership of festival director Marek Żydowicz, who has been heavily criticised for his controversial comments. During a recent column in Cinematography World, the organiser seemed to suggest that greater representation of female filmmakers in festival programs might lead to “mediocre film productions.”
“Should we reject what is esteemed and valuable just to ‘make space’ for the necessity of social change?” he continued. “Whilst festivals like Cannes, Berlin or Venice are criticised for their selections due to succumbing to or promoting [political or ideological trends], Camerimage remains committed to artistic values as the foremost criterion for qualifying and promoting film art.” However, these comments have proved to be detrimental to this year’s Camerimage Festival.
Coralie Fargeat found these comments too offensive to ignore and promptly pulled out of the festival’s programming. Posting to X, formerly Twitter, the director shared, “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).”
Furthering her explanation, Fargeat wrote, “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.”
Director Steve McQueen – whose film Blitz was set to open the festival – also chose to pull out of the event in light of these comments. Although Żydowicz later apologised for the column, it was too little too late for McQueen, who said, “I have enormous respect for cinematographers of all genders, including women, and believe we have to do and demand better to make room for everyone at the table.”
In response to the departure of McQueen, Żydowicz published a statement reading, “It was with great sadness that I accepted Steve McQueen’s decision to withdraw from the festival. I apologise once more, and I would like to take this opportunity to sit down in an open forum and talk about how to move forward together in a more open and inclusive manner.”
“The festival is here to embrace each other as a community and to share in the appreciation of the images we cherish together as a community,” he continued, “Let’s have a meaningful discourse together as a community so that we can begin to rebuild in a more equitable manner. Let us have a conversation and determine the steps that will make the festival, our industry, more open, unified and representative of all voices.”
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