GSC’s letter to IMAGO

The Board of GSC prepared and sent a letter to IMAGO, regarding the current election. The txt can be found here:

Kees Van Oostrum answered:

Dear members of the Greek society of cinematographers,

Thank you for your excellent letter regarding the IMAGO.situation. I cannot, and also do not feel empowered at this time to take part in the discussion and issues you bring up. I hope that Paul Rene and the election committee address your excellent formulated points. HoweverI do take issue with your statement that the American Society of Cinematographers considers its members “craftsman”. Let me tell you plain and clear we do not! We were formed over 100 years ago with one of the main reason that we were considered and referred to as “cameraman”. Our founders were very specific in the founding principles that we would refer to ourselves as “cinematographers” because of our creative involvement in the film industry of those early days. Our logo says “Artistry, Loyalty and Progress”, and for all those years since 1918 we have followed that principle. It is also not right to assume that we do not enjoy residuals in regards to authors rights. Of course in the legal and capitalist system of the USA we do not refer to it as authors rights. In the agreement structure and US law we transfer those rights to the producer, but A we do get residuals which are collected by our camera union and are attributed to our health and pension plans. We do recognize “creative rights” which are enforced by individual contracting, sometimes union regulations and interesting enough through an understanding of knowledge. Case in point is that most cinematographers are now invited to a color session and moat get paid half their regular production fee. Although this is not a law the tradition is based on the same principles of the Director’s creative rights. according to the DGA. I will safe you all the background for now but its workings dates back to the 1950’s and is a very interesting way to secure some of our creative filmmaker rights.

Anyway look forward to continue this conversation in the future if everything works out in regard to the elections.

Best regards,

Kees van Oostrum ASC
President

Η Ένωση απάντησε:

Dear Kees,

we thank you for the clarificationWe got a wrong image, by reading in your letter, dated April 28, 2020: Education. is and has always been, an essential fact during my career. Before I started with the concept of the ASC masterclass, I occasionally taught creative workshops at various film schools. I discovered that cinematography is a craft and art form that learns best through a practical hands-on approach in a small group of participants. We agree with you in that Cinematography is best taught according to Jerome Bruner’s guidelines.
We strongly worry each time we see a Discovery channel show quoting the colorist closer to the director than the DP
We look forward to collaborating with you in the future. We truly believe that you will be a great president. Our concern is this: the Election Committee misunderstands it’s duties and its limits. And this will not do justice to your presidency.

Best Regards

The Board of the GSC

και ο Kees ανταπάντησε:

No problem you guys wrote a very intelligent letter looking forward to working with you in the future.
Kees