Cinegirl goes International! – Our Highlights of the Euro Cine Expo in Munich
The first Euro Cine Expo took place in Munich, at The Zenith Hall at Motorworld last weekend. The event has been launched after extensive research and requests from industry for a new, exciting and innovative European event. Organised and run by a team of people embedded in this industry, who work and deliver successful events in this sector around the world – such as the BSC Expo in London, or Cinegear in Los Angeles. Similarly, this event delivered a mix of exhibition stands, seminars, workshops and networking opportunities in a flexible and central venue. At the first edition of Euro Cine Expo in Munich 2022 there were over one hundred exhibitors & brands showcasing the latest technologies in cinematography, broadcast and film. The visitors had the chance to gain hands-on experience with the latest new products and innovations in Camera, Lighting, Grip and all connected sectors as well.
Cinegirl had the opportunity to hold the Cinegirl International Cinematography Panel Discussion featuring:
Sanne Kurz, Cinematographer
Britta Mangold, Cinematographer
Christina Nowak, Board Member SMPTE UK, Director of Virtual Production at Anna Valley and Cinegirl Ambassador
Babett Pönisch, Art Department
Carla Muresan, Cinematographer
Bebe Dierken, Cinematographer and Cinegirl Ambassador
We talked about gender diversity in the film industry, specifically in the camera department; career choices and work-life balance, workload and lifestyle in Film. The event had remarkable importance in the range of seminars of the Expo, as the visitors may not have seen many women and non-binary attendees coming to The Zenith over the two days. Our panel also highlighted the contemporary issue of equality and diversity in our industry:
“We need to raise awareness of the topic in order to achieve change” – pointed out cinematographer Sanne Kurz. “This is currently coming from the younger group, the new generation of filmmakers” – she added. The panellists all agreed that the industry is changing, however, not fast enough. Carla Muresan, cinematographer reflected that the traditional, already established European filmmakers need to listen to the unheard voices if the whole industry wants to achieve progression. Christina Nowak, our ambassador concluded: “Stay strong, change will come”.
After that, our panellists were reflecting on the topic of our last Cinegirl event: job sharing and parenting. Britta Mangold, cinematographer expressed that she personally would not be able to share her job with others, but supports the movement. It is understandable, as being in charge of a process requires high amount of responsibility and attention to detail, some might not want to take a break from the progress of a production. Babett Pönisch, who works in the Art Department, encouraged the idea, and mentioned that they have started job sharing in Germany, in the beginning, with eighty people and now it is an established job sharing newsletter where filmmakers can advertise positions and tasks they would like to share with other professionals. Regarding parenting, the speakers came to the conclusion that it is still not quite accepted neither in the film industry, neither in other fields – women tend to leave the announcement until the last minute. This needs to be resolved as well.
The event concluded with a positive and hopeful manner: we hope that women in any industry will not be objectified, but feel included, listened and accepted as creatives. “We hope that organizations like Cinegirl will help make change. Tiny discussions of important issues are just a start” – said Babett, as a closing word.
Attending the Expo and organizing the panel, we are officially global. We managed to assemble a group of women in European Film for further collaborations and networking events to support each other in the future.
Other highlights of the Euro Cine Expo 2022:
Green Panel: How Can Filming Become more Sustainable?
Climate change is another important issue in our contemporary society. Filmmaking can make an impact in protecting the Earth and the environment as well. Panellists from CineGreen talked about the already existing developments and improvement towards more sustainable equipment, shooting processes and the reduction of CO2 emissions. The most important aspect is the same here too: we have to change our mindset: rethink first, aim for smaller goals and keeping the sustainability targets in mind.
Guest of Honour Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC Talks About His Life in Filmmaking
Vittorio Storaro, the legendary Italian cinematographer worked on several historically recognized films, such as Apocalypse Now (1979), Reds (1981) or The Last Emperor (1987). He joined the Expo from Zoom and talked about how he gets inspired from other forms of art, such as paintings and sculptures; experimenting and creating emotions with lighting, the invention of Univisium aspect ratio, shooting on film vs. shooting on digital; and the collaboration between the DoP and the director. The recording of the talk will be available soon at Cinematography World.
Jakob Ballinger of Lightbridge & The Emotional Path of Light
Jakob Ballinger, the founder of Lightbridge held a presentation about the fundamentals of lighting: how you can express and create emotions with lights. In life, we verbally communicate what we feel – in films, we have to turn them into practice. It helps to describe the feelings of a story: “Light is physical, emotional. We are always in light. It surrounds us, reflects off us, it triggers and defines emotions”.
More info about the Expo is available here: https://eurocineexpo.com/
Photo by John Daly
