Robby Müller Award 2024: Grimm Vandekerckhove

Each year, IFFR acknowledges the craft of an outstanding image maker with the Robby Müller Award, given in collaboration with the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) and Andrea Müller-Schirmer, the wife of the late Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller.

“With profound commitment and a wondrous tranquillity he captures details and hidden shades of everyday existence.”

Vandekerckhove is known for delicately capturing the inner lives of characters, such as a cleaning lady on a late-night journey in Ghost Tropic (IFFR 2020) or the encounter of a foreign construction worker and a moss researcher in Here (2023), both directed by fellow Belgian Bas Devos. He also shot Stephan Streker’s A Wedding (Noces) (IFFR 2017), about a teenager forced into an arranged marriage.

The Jury stated: “Grimm Vandekerckhove is a new yet already established voice and a true discovery among the new generation of international cinematographers. With profound commitment and a wondrous tranquillity he captures details and hidden shades of everyday existence in his own singular way that mirrors the emotionally moving images of Robby Müller.”

Last edition’s recipient was French cinematographer Hélène Louvart, following awards for Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Kelly Reichardt and Diego García.  

About the recipient

Grimm VANDEKERCKHOVE (1985) is a Belgian cinematographer known for his collaborations with directors such as Bas Devos, Stephan Streker, Jeremy Guez and Fien Troch. After graduating from the LUCA – School of Arts in Brussels (2011), he started as a second unit camera operator for Nicolas Karakatsanis on Racer and the Jailbird (2017, dir Michaël R. Roskam) and Violet (2014, dir. Bas Devos). Then he embarked on a career as a director of photography, starting with plenty of short films, documentaries and advertising.

Over the years he built a versatile portfolio that spans different genres: from the raw camerawork in neo-noir Kanun (2022, dir. Jérémie Guez) to the delicate perceptions of Here (2023, dir. Bas Devos). Grimm’s cinematography has been recognised with multiple festival selections like Visions De reel, Berlinale, Cannes and TIFF. Of special note is his creative relationship with Bas Devos. Ghost Tropic (IFFR 2020) was selected for the Quinzaine des cinéastes at Cannes, and Here was the winner of Best Film & International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) in the Encounters section at the Berlinale.