"MANAKI BROTHERS" 2006 WINNERS

STÉPHANE FONTAINE won the highest distinction, GOLDEN CAMERA 300, for his collaboration in "THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED", 2004 (original title: De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrêté ). According to the jury the award was granted "for the perfect collaboration between director, cinematographer, and the whole creative team and for its overall approach to all elements of visual creativity". Therefore, next, we present some interesting facts about the movie and then STÉPHANE FONTAINE.

The film tells the story of Tom, who's 25 years old, and seems to be following in the tracks of his father, a corrupted real estate agent. But an unexpected encounter brings him to think he could really be the talented solo pianist he always wanted to be, as his mother was. He keeps working in real estate but starts preparing for an audition.

"THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED" had its world premiere in February 2005 and it's a remake of James Toback's Fingers (1978). Then, this was Toback's first experience, both as screenwriter and director, and featured Harvey Keitel as "Tom". The cinematographer was Michael Chapman - also responsible for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980) and The Fugitive (1993), just to name a few. (Toback became an acclaimed "outsider" director, both for the public and movie business professionals, as the documentary The Outsider shows.

Fingers it's said to be one of Jean-Luc Godard's favourite movies. In 2004 Jacques Audiard decided to adapt it. Jacques Audiard started working in the 80's as screenwriter. In 1994 he decided to do his first feature film and "THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED" is his fourth long feature. For this film he took Toback's script and adapted it along with Tonino Benacquista (with whom he also has worked in his last movie in 2001).

"THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED" has won several important awards (Berlin Festival, BAFTA, César Awards). The public loves it and the critics give it great reviews. It's said that it can be taken as one of the greatest French movies of the last few years.

TÉPHANE FONTAINE began his career in the 90's doing a few art documentaries and collaborating with Patrice Chéreau's production company that filmed several classic French theatre plays for Arte tv channel. From 1993 on, he started assisting the acclaimed French cinematographer ÉRIC GAUTIER ( Pola X (1999), Esther Kahn (2000), Intimacy (2001), Diarios de motocicleta (2004), Clean (2004), Rois et reine (2004), Gabrielle (2005)). This happens in several titles like: Le Nombril du monde (1993) by Ariel Zeitoun; Travolta et Moi (1993/ TV) by Patricia Mazuy; Personne ne m'aime (1994) by Marion Vernoux; Le Fils préféré (1994) by Nicole Garcia; Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinema (1995) by Agnès Varda; Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle) (1996) by Desplechin; Diarios de motocicleta (2004) by Walter Salles; Clean (2004) by Olivier Assayas; and Gabrielle (2005) by Patrice Chéreau.

Between 1997 and 2001 he does 8 shorts. In 1999 he works in History Is Made at Night (1999) by Ilkka Järvi-Laturi, as Director of Photography: Second Unit next to Michel Amathieu ( Life is a Miracle / Zivot je cudo (2004) by Emir Kusturica and Bruno Delbonnel's assistant in A Very Long Engagement / Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004) by Jean-Pierre Jeunet). In 2000 he does cinematography for Bronx-Barbès by Eliane de Latour and then for La Vie nouvelle by Philippe Grandrieux. In 2003 he works with the acclaimed director Arnaud Desplechin in Léo, en jouant 'Dans la compagnie des hommes' and in 2004 with Agnès Jaoui in Comme une image .

After "THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED" he did Selon Charlie (2005) by Nicole Garcia (whom he worked with in 1994 as First Camera Assistant) and Je m'appelle Elisabeth (2005) by Jean-Pierre Améris. His 2006 project is called Les Disparus , once again with Jacques Audiard and Tonino Benacquista as scriptwriters and directed by Audiard - the same team that did "THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED" - and the movie features actors Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil and Samuel Le Bihan. Coming out in 2007 he has Talk to Me (2007), directed by Kasi Lemmons.

To know more. "THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED" visit official websites:

French - English

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SILVER CAMERA 300 was awarded to JURI KLIMENKO by "DREAMING OF SPACE", 2005 (original title: Kosmos kak predchuvstvie ) "for wonderfully evoking the atmosphere of time and space with artfully crafted images that stay in the memory long after the film has finished" - as stated by Manaki jury. "DREAMING OF SPACE" director by Aleksei Uchitel won "Gold St. George Award" by the Moscow International Film Festival , 2005.

JURI KLIMENKO (or Yuri Klimenko) was born in Dnepropetrovsk in 1944 and is one of the most famous director of photography in Russian cinematography. His works include Ali Khamraev's Chasing the Birds (1975), which won the "Figurative Concept prize" at the Delhi Festival ; Kira Muratova's Getting to Know the Big Wide World (1978), Ali Khamrayev's Triptych (1979), Georgiy Daneliya's Tears Were Falling (1981), Sergei Paradzhanov's Legend of the Surams Fortress (1984), Rustam Khamdamov's Anna Karamazova (1991), Aleksander Kaydanovsky's Simple Death (1985), Sergey Solovyev's Someone Else's White and the Speckled (1985) and Three Sisters (1993), Yuri Grimov's Mumu (1998), Valery Ogorodnikov's The Barracks (1999).

Klimenko has worked as a director of photography on Aleksei Uchitel's His Wife's Diary (best camera work award at the Milan Festival , 2001), as well as The Stroll and Dreaming of Space . Yuri Klimenko is a two times winner the Russian Cinema Academy "Nika prize" - for his work on His Wife's Diary and Mumu . Acclaimed at a number of international film festivals, his works receive international recognition. He is a Russian State Prize Laureate.

About Klimenko, says Uchitel: "Yura is the person who in many ways determines the style of the film. He has worked with Paradzhanov and Muratova. He is an extremely professional cameraman: his approach is very non-traditional, but simple at the same time. Klimenko's camera has the ability to intensify dramatic moments, and he doesn't do this by using some technical tricks, he just simply sees it. We have already made two films together, and we will continue to work in the future."

To know more. "DREAMING OF SPACE" official website

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BRONZE CAMERA 300 was awarded to KOLJA BRANDT for his collaboration in "TOUGH ENOUGH", 2006 (original title: Knallhart ) "for its modern, precise approach to a dynamic mise-en-scene which also makes use of digital possibilities in a creative way. Moreover, the film convinces through its hard-hitting authenticity", according to Manaki's jury. "TOUGH ENOUGH" has won several awards by the Berlin International Film Festival and by the German Film Awards .

KOLJA BRANDT was born in Berlin in 1969. Before "TOUGH ENOUGH", he did his last long feature in 1998 with director Luke McBain, Letting Go . Between 1998 and 2004 he did four shorts. In 2003 he co-directed (along with Daniel Lwowski) a short feature titled Ohne Titel 01 . He has a personal website: http://www.koljabrandt.com/ .

To know more. "TOUGH ENOUGH" official website

News content by Diana Soeiro for IMAGO