CineTributes: Viktor Kosakovskiy
It's a double whammy for director-cinematographers in Screen On Screen's July CineTributes to the world's best under-recognized DPs. Following yesterday's Nikolaus Geyrhalter montage, today turns to Viktor Kosakovskiy, the master documentarian from Leningrad. Still somewhat unknown even among international cinephile communities, Kosakovskiy has quietly made a name for himself as a filmmaker of extraordinary visual and formal acuity in the 30 years since his career as director began. For most of that career, he's worked as his own editor and cinematographer to consistently remarkable effect.
Most recently, Kosakovskiy entered his porcine biodoc (the only subgenre I'm interested in rn) Gunda into the Berlin Film Festival, one of the few major film fests to have taken place physically this year. Just last year, his water documentary Aquarela made the rounds on public screens worldwide, and was one of the cinematic highlights of the year. It was also one of the best-shot films of the year, as you'll see in the specially-curated montage above.
Films featured
Hush!, 2003
Svyato, 2005
Vivan las Antipodas!, 2011
Aquarela, 2018
Gunda, 2020