For the first time ever, this year’s IMAGO Annual General Assembly was held outside of Europe. By accepting non-European cinematographers’ societies, such as Israel, Colombia, Australia, Iran, New Zealand and Canada, IMAGO has, under the presidency of Nigel Walters, made a step towards becoming the world’s umbrella association of cinematographers.
Thus Israel became the host of the traditional IAGA, which had an elective character this year. In spite of the conference’s busy schedule, thanks to flawless organization by the Israeli Cinematographers’ Association, ACT, and great efforts from its former president Idan Or, the summit that gathered about fifty representatives of cinematographers’ societies, members of IMAGO, took place in a highly efficient working atmosphere. HFS was represented by its president Mario Sablić and board member Goran Mećava.
After a voting process, a new president and board members were appointed. Welshman Nigel Walters, BSC, who was at the head of IMAGO since 2008, was replaced by Paul René Roestad, FNF, for a term of office of three years.
Among other achievements, Walters played a huge role in IMAGO’s opening towards non-European associations and in fostering the Balkans conference, which brought together and reestablished relations between associations that were part of former Yugoslavia, as well as those of Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. The Balkans conferences served to reconnect the mentioned associations and share experiences largely related to production conditions which directors of photography face on a daily basis in their respective countries.
The remaining members of the new IMAGO Board are:
•Daniele Nannuzzi, AIC
•Elen Lotman, ESC
•Predrag Bambić, SAS
•Rolf Coulanges, BVK
•Ron Johanson, ACS
•Nina Kelgren, BSC
IAGA was taking place in the shadow of turbulent events in Jerusalem, but thanks to excellent organization by ACT, the Assembly was held in a safe and creative environment, and, in addition to electing the new Board, it significantly addressed several burning issues related to the cinematographer profession.
This primarily concerned the working conditions in which cinematographers operate today, as well as the potential problems with archiving film material in the digital age. It was interesting to hear the presentation of the Technical Committee led by Rolf Coulanges, BVK, on the possibilities for digital image texture control, the research of which was closely related to Arri cameras. More information on this subject is available here.
The Technical Committee was renamed to Committee for Creative Technologies in Cinematography.
Turkey was accepted as a full member of IMAGO, and Germany returned after five years of absence. In the period left until the next assembly, efforts will be made to bring France back into IMAGO membership as well.