The Origins of a Trophy

Thirty-four years after its creation, the AFC finally has its own award to honor examples of cinematography that give meaning and perform as an actor in their own right. This award is given to cinematographers by their peers, fellow directors of photography. This tradition exists in many other associations (England, the United States, etc.) but until now, did not exist in France. A working group was set up by Romain Lacourbas, whose brainchild this new award is. About fifteen people were involved in setting up the infrastructure and organizational capacity needed to make the award we didn’t have become a reality.

As for me, I participated in the development of the physical trophy itself. It was a modest contribution, yet one I enjoyed greatly, and I would like to tell you its story.

There was a first attempt at creating the AFC Awards around ten years ago. The original idea was to call it the “AFC Caméflex Prize” and a trophy was even created for the occasion. But the experiment was short-lived.

The oldest amongst us kept in our minds the idea that the trophy itself should pay homage to the Caméflex, the legendary camera designed by André Coutant for Éclair in 1947. Awarded a technical Oscar in 1950, and a favorite camera of the New Wave, this camera has long been a symbol of the excellence of French cinema from that era.
Thanks to Jean-Marie Dreujou who brought out one of his old 35mm cameras, the sculptor, Myriam Chataignère, had a very strong reference as a “mood” to follow…

Despite its clear symbolic value, the object itself isn’t easy to sketch because it is an anthropomorphic object with its three-lens turret. It isn’t easy to stylize it or purify it and the “gas mask” appearance of the front is hard to hide…

So, this had to be accepted and played with: in spite of the difficulties, Myriam was fully on board with the specifications we gave her. She also thought it was important for a camera to be the symbol of our trophy: “The invention of a technology and the camera itself as an object is what created cinematographic art, unlike literature, painting or sculpture, which are prolongations of a human gesture…”, she says.

Myriam quickly understood the need to add a human dimension to the camera, whether that be an eye or a hand. Two images eventually stood out to her: the beautiful portrait taken by Jean-Marc Lubrano of a facetious Jean Rochefort behind a camera, paying tribute to Méliès. The second was the film shot exactly a year ago by Gilles Porte in which you can see Pierre-William Glenn drawing a Caméflex.

Seeing PWG drawing this camera with his trembling, yet steady hand was very moving. It was the union of beauty, strength and fragility, with an always lively and curious eye.

Link to the article by Gilles Porte, in French, with access to his film: Pierre-William Glenn draws a camera for Micro Salon 2023.

After several preliminary versions, the object finally appeared in Myriam’s hands. The sculpture represents the camera, the tool, the instrument; thus, an eye: the vision, the gaze, the soul of a filmmaker.
We entrusted the plaster cast to Luc Harzé, a Belgian foundry operator (alas, no French foundry was interested in our project…) and he made the bronze sculptures. Seven bronze statuettes came out of the foundry the day before our awards ceremony was to take place, just in time to allow us to present them to our winners. The rush was so great that while fabricating the mold, the eye became detached from the plaster. Luc Harzé hadn’t had the time to check whether the alignment corresponded to Myriam’s work, and when he put it back in place, it was slightly askew… Might that not have been an involuntary tribute to Pierre-William Glenn? Indeed, the trophy’s gaze seems a bit sad…
Next year, this “error” will be fixed, which gives these first trophies a very unique character!

Ten months passed between the time the working group for the AFC Awards was created and the 2024 Micro Salon. That is really not much given the amount of work that was involved. We were each able to take stock of our group’s strength, and through this type of mission the term association takes on its fullest meaning.
This first awards ceremony was a success. And we are optimistic we will be able to repeat the experiment so that our AFC Award will become the emblem of remarkable cinematography.
Long may the AFC Awards live and another bravo to everyone who won them and who will forever remain the first, even as other bronze Caméflex statuettes will appear in the hands of others whose work we consider excellent.

The steps involved in creating and manufacturing the trophy