Two Hungarian colourists are making waves as part of the esteemed jury for this year’s FilmLight CAMERIMAGE Colour Awards. The recently released shortlist highlights some of the most visually stunning work in film, television, and commercials from the past year.
Freelance colourist Máté Ternyik, based in Budapest, and László Kovács, senior colourist at Hungary’s National Film Institute’s Hungarian Filmlab, have joined a diverse panel that includes cinematographers, post-production professionals, and visual artists from around the globe.
Their inclusion showcases distinct aspects of Hungary’s post-production industry: Ternyik embodies a new wave of mobile freelance talents who are active in international projects, while Kovács brings extensive experience from one of Hungary’s premier film-laboratory establishments.
Fifty Projects Across Five Categories
The 2026 shortlist comprises ten entries in each of the five categories: Theatrical Feature, TV Series/Episodic, Commercial, Spotlight & Documentary, and Emerging Talent.
In the Theatrical Feature category, films like Bugonia, Project Hail Mary, Wuthering Heights, Dead Man’s Wire, and Desert Warrior stand out for their remarkable colour work. On the television side, contenders include Euphoria, Lord of the Flies, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, My Brilliant Career, and To Cook a Bear.
The Commercial category showcases vibrant campaigns for brands like Honda, Huawei, Beats by Dre, and The North Face, alongside creative contributions for Squarespace and Zalando. Notably, the expanded Spotlight & Documentary section highlights lower-budget narrative films and non-fiction projects, emphasizing their visual storytelling through meticulous colour grading.
Each category will be trimmed down from ten shortlisted projects to four final nominees by mid-October, with one winner selected per category before the FilmLight CAMERIMAGE ceremony in Poland.
A Former Winner Returns to Judge
Máté Ternyik returns to the jury a year after winning the Theatrical Feature category for his exceptional work on Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, a film primarily shot in Hungary that later claimed an Academy Award for cinematography for Lol Crawley. This challenging production involved various formats and aspect ratios, anchored in a mid-century cinematic aesthetic. Ternyik’s adept colour work preserved the film’s distinctive characteristics throughout the grading process.
Since transitioning to freelance work in 2019, Ternyik’s credits have included Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend and Sophie Romvari’s Blue Heron, the latter filmed in Canada and graded in Hungary, highlighting Budapest’s growing influence in global film projects.
László Kovács has taken a different route through the Hungarian Filmlab, contributing to films like László Nemes’s Son of Saul, Sunset, and Orphan, as well as Ildikó Enyedi’s On Body and Soul and The Story of My Wife. His expansive work encompasses both film and digital formats and has helped shape the visual identity of numerous festival favorites.
Both Hungarian colourists now stand alongside notable industry figures such as cinematographers Chung-hoon Chung, Jeff Cronenweth, Natalie Kingston, and Ula Pontikos in this year’s jury.
Colour Grading Joins the Official CAMERIMAGE Lineup
This year marks a significant development for the awards, as they are officially included in the CAMERIMAGE festival program due to an expanded partnership between FilmLight and ToruńCAMERIMAGE. Although the awards will continue to be judged independently, their presence will now be complemented by panels and discussions exploring the intersection of cinematography and colour grading.
A new Top 10 shortlist stage has also been initiated, following a successful 2025 edition that attracted over 600 entries from 49 countries, underscoring the global significance of colourists in the film industry.
While often regarded in technical terms, colour grading plays a vital creative role in filmmaking. Colourists collaborate closely with directors and cinematographers, manipulating contrast, density, texture, and palette to create a cohesive visual narrative from footage captured under varied conditions.
This expertise forms an integral part of Hungary’s expanding post-production capabilities, with editing, sound, visual effects, laboratory processing, and colour finishing increasingly centralized as part of the film production infrastructure.
The 34th ToruńCAMERIMAGE festival will be held from November 7 to 14. Before then, the shortlist will be narrowed to the ultimate nominees, and two Hungarian colourists will be key players in determining which works progress.
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From Budapest to CAMERIMAGE: Two Hungarian Colourists Join the Global Jury
