Happy Monday!
Welcome to another edition of the Marquet Films Newsletter!
The gang is officially back from EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2025 (hosted in Torun, Poland) and boy, was it a blast. We had the opportunity to watch so many stunning films and sit in on various informative seminars by fellow creatives and industry professionals.
Let me paint a picture of what this week looked like in a nutshell: It’s midnight, and we just finished watching Bugonia. There's a Q&A with cinematographer Robbie Ryan and first camera assistant Olga Abramson in a packed theatre. 30 minutes later, we are in an EDM club watching Robbie DJ a set while Adrien, Marco, and I are asking Olga to take a picture of us with Ronan Day-Lewis, who had screened his directorial debut Anemone (starring his father, Daniel) earlier that same day.
The whole thing really felt like a fever dream for the most part.
Each Day Looked Like This:
8 AM: Wake up. Book screenings and seminars for the next day. Immediately go back to sleep.
10 AM: Wake up again. Get ready. Out the door by 11 for brunch.
12 PM - 12 AM: Films and seminars back to back. Lunch and dinner somewhere in there - usually pierogies and Polish soups like Rosuł or Żurek. Maybe throw a nap in there too.
12 AM - 4 AM: Networking with filmmakers at jazz lounges or EDM clubs.
4 AM - 8 AM: Sleep.
From my side (with my own reviews), I caught Frankenstein (3.5 stars), Bugonia (4 stars), Train Dreams (4.5 stars), Chopin (3.5 stars), Winter of the Crow (3.5 stars), Springsteen (3.5 stars), Sorry, Baby (4 stars), and a handful of others. So many stunning films - and getting to see them on a big screen the way they were meant to be seen was unreal.
The festival also had many special guests. We sat in on as many Q&A’s as we could, which had folks like cinematographers like Barry Ackroyd (House of Dynamite), Masanobu Takayanagi (Springsteen), and Tomasz Naumiuk (Winter of the Crow and Franz) just to name a few. There were also appearances of a few other filmmakers like director Scott Cooper (Springsteen) and actor Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams) who came to the festival.
Why You Need To Go:
If you’re thinking about going to a festival like Camerimage, we’d highly recommend it. One pass (around $60 CAD) gets you access to everything - screenings, seminars, Q&As, the whole deal. All in, with flights, Airbnb, and meals, the trip came to roughly $1,200 - $1,600 if you book early. The only catch: you need to be up at 8 AM every morning to reserve your spots. Also, although it’s in Poland, you really don’t need to know the language as everyone speaks English.
The festival was incredibly open and worth every penny. As I mentioned with the example, we’d be sitting in our seats watching these professionals discuss their craft and then by the time midnight hit, we’d be shoulder-to-shoulder partying with them. Memories were made, connections were established, and valuable lessons were learned.
It was great spending time with Adrien, Marco Ciardullo, and Philip LeMoyne (check out their stuff!) - they’re a big part of what made the trip special. We kept asking ourselves how we even ended up here, but with every screening, every Q&A, and every seminar snapped things into perspective. It reminded us why we’re doing this in the first place. Big shoutout to Phil, who told us about it and pushed us to come.
Now it’s back to business. Adrien and I are back home, and you can expect new stories, new films in the works, and plenty more on the way.
Thanks for sticking with us,
Pat and the Marquet Films team
P.S. Click Read Online in this email to check out the special thumbnail and read our previous newsletters if you missed out on them!
