Lukasz Zal Wins Camerimage's Golden Frog for Fatherland
Lukasz Zal has won the Golden Frog, the top prize for cinematography in the main competition at the 34th Camerimage Film Festival. He won it for Fatherland, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski. The Hollywood Reporter reported the awards on 14 November 2026.
Camerimage is a festival built around cinematography, the craft of deciding how a film looks through the lens. It is held in Torun, Poland. Earlier in 2026 the festival changed its name to TorunCamerimage. The 2026 edition is scheduled for 7 to 14 November, according to the festival's website.
The other main prizes in the competition went to two more films. Jasper J. Spanning won the Silver Frog for Woman Unknown, directed by May El-Toukhy. Mikhail Krichman won the Bronze Frog for Minotaur, directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev.
The audience award went to Wild Horse Nine, directed by Martin McDonagh and shot by Ben Davis. Audience awards are voted by festival-goers rather than by a jury of professionals, so they reflect a different kind of verdict from the Frogs.
Fatherland has a second honour waiting. It is Poland's selection for the international feature Oscar, the Academy Awards category for films made in a language other than English. The country's choice is put forward for that category, and the final nominations are decided later by the Academy.
For a cinematographer, the Golden Frog is a prize for the image itself. Festival juries name the person responsible for light, colour and camera movement, a role that rarely gets a name in the headlines. This year's list puts Zal, Spanning and Krichman in that spotlight, alongside the directors whose films they shot.
