Janusz Kamski to Receive Camerimage Honor in Poland

Janusz Kamski will receive the THR Visionary in Cinematography Award on Nov. 7 at the TorunCamerimage Film Festival. The honor recognizes his impact on the visual language of modern filmmaking. He is a Polish-born cinematographer who has won two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography.

Kamski has shot 20 films for director Steven Spielberg, including the latest release, Disclosure Day. Their long collaboration has altered how Hollywood shoots period dramas and war movies. Schindler's List (1994) used stark black-and-white imagery. Saving Private Ryan (1998) featured chaotic handheld battle scenes. The American Society of Cinematographers named both films among the best-photographed of the 20th century.

Kamski adjusts his visual style to fit the specific story of each project. In Minority Report (2002), he used cold blues and metallic shadows to depict a dystopian Washington. Munich (2005) mimicked the look of 1970s thrillers and news footage. In Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), he used restricted point-of-view shots to represent the lead character's medical condition.

Kamski arrived in the United States as a political refugee from Poland without speaking English. He trained at Columbia College in Chicago and the American Film Institute. He started as a gaffer on low-budget Roger Corman productions and television movies. His work on Diane Keaton's 1991 TV movie Wildflower led to his first job with Spielberg on The Class of 61.

The cinematographer has received seven nominations for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Six of those nominations came from his work with Spielberg. He has also collaborated with Judd Apatow on Funny People and Cameron Crowe on Jerry Maguire.

The 34th TorunCamerimage festival runs from Nov. 7 to 14. It is described as the largest film festival devoted specifically to the art of cinematography. The award presentation is part of the festival's main schedule.