HISTORY OF IMAGO
IMAGO, the European Federation of National Cinematographers
Associations, was officially founded in Rome on December 13th, 1992
on the idea and initiative of Luciano Tovoli, at that moment President
of the Italian Society of Cinematographers AIC, as a result of very
imaginative, enthusiastic and hard work done during two meetings in
Rome, in the AIC headquaters in Cinecitta', with the prompt, creative
and decisive participation of well-established and well-known Societies
of Cinematographers, namely AIC (Italy), AFC (France), BSC (UK) and
BVK (Germany).
Nigel Walters was appointed at the organisation's Annual General
Meeting in Amsterdam . Nigel Walters BSC, vice-president of the British
Society of Cinematographers, was unanimously voted by delegates representing
1,400 cinematographers from 27 European Nations, and by general consent
it was the largest and most successful meeting yet held by IMAGO.
During an Extraordinary General Assembly in Paris on December 13th,
2003 Andreas Fischer- Hans en DFF has been elected Imago President
with immediate effect. The positions of Vice-president, Treasurer
and General Secretary could not be staffed immediately, however. The
General Assembly allowed the new president to compose his board by
March 1st, 2004 .
Tony Costa AIP as Vice President and Paul René Roestad
FNF as General Secretary formed the IMAGO Board with Andreas Fischer-
Hans en the 1st of March 2004 .
The board was replaced in 15th of February 2008 in Amsterdam . During
four years on board the Federation was reorganized financially and
politically. IMAGO got better relations with other institutions and
companies, published the Model Contract for Cinematographers, solved
the chaotic situation left with the publication of the book «Making
Pictures», got the Federation involved into the new technologies
by becoming member of EDCF, along with the organisation of the Digital
Conference in Oslo 2005 where was presented the proposal for several
frame rates for the digital image.
Organised in partnership with AEC
the Conference in Huelva about Authorship Rights, published the DVD's
about the Digital Conference and the Declaration of Working Conditions.
The IMAGO website was renewed from scratch and communication within
members was established along with a permanent collaboration with the
British Cinematographer Magazine.
It was created several IMAGO committees
to work on Educational, Technical and Authorship It was signed in Frankfurt
a contract of collaboration with the directors of the Film Festival
eDIT.
During this period Greece , Ukraine , Russia , Estonia , Latvia
, Lithuania and Slovenia became IMAGO members. Now, very soon are coming
to join the federation, Romania and as associate members Australia
and New Zealand .
Since the founding of the Federation, following several years of hard work spent in developing the project, IMAGO elected Luciano Tovoli AIC as its first biannual President with Jost Vacano BVK, Harvey Harrison BSC, Robert Alazraki AFC and Tote Trenas AEC as Vice-Presidents.
The four founding Societies were joined by the Spanish AEC and the Danish DFF within a few weeks, then followed by Austria, Belgium, Finland, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden who became Full Members.
After the first two years with Luciano as President, Harvey Harrison BSC has been elected in as the new President from December 94 to December 96.
The idea of the Imago Book "Making Pictures" was born.
The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, The Slovak Republic and Switzerland which all were no member of the European Community became Associate Members for that reason.
Tote Trenas AEC followed as IMAGO President until end of 1998. He suggested to build up the Imago Website, that was first presented during MadridImagen 1997, the spanish Festival of Cinematography that is also initiated and organized by him.
According to the "Bavarian resolution" (April 1997) of the general assembly, all european members of IMAGO became full members, regardless if they represent DPs from countries which are member of the European Community or not. IMAGO shall certainly have "far-reaching" powers in the next few years:
the statutes have been renewed, introducing a new kind of associate membership for non-european countries, allowing the Argentinian Society of Cinematographers ADF becoming the first associate member of this kind.
In December 1998, DoP Gustaf Mandal, former president of the Swedish Society of Directors of Photography FSF was unanimously elected for the IMAGO Presidency until the end of 2000. During the election meeting in Torun, also new members from Portugal, Croatia and Bulgaria have been welcomed in the federation and are now active members of IMAGO. The Indian Society of Cinematographers ISC became the second associate member of the federation. The Belgian cinematographer Frédéric-Gérard Kaczek, board member of the Austrian Society AAC, has been elected with one vote General Secretary of IMAGO. Matthias Maaß BVK was confirmed as Webmaster and Stig Hallgren FSF was nominated treasurer.
In Brussels on January 27, 2001 Tibor Vagyóczky HSC has been elected President of Imago for the period 2001 - 2002. He assigned Peter Dubovitz HSC as Vice President and Virgil Szilágyi HSC as new treasurer.
The Russian Guild of Cinematographers RGC has been welcomed as the 23rd member of the federation and the Brasilian Society of Cinematographer ABC became the 3rd associate member of IMAGO. In October 2002 the Cuban Society of Cinematographers ACF and the Mexican Society of Cinematographers AMC became associate members of Imago and Tibor Vagyóczky has been elected Imago President for a second period of 2 years, but announced his resignation one year later. The book "Making Pictures" has been released in May 2003 but caused a big deficit with the members of Imago. Consequently the Imago Book Office IBO in Vienna has been closed through vote of the Annual General Assembly on November 9, 2003 in Budapest. The Lithuanian Association of Cinematographers LAC has been accepted as full member of Imago.
