The Opening Gala Night film of the 2014 Edinburgh International Film Festival, Hyena, features the work of cinematographer Benjamin Kracun. Benny was a graduate of the BA (Hons) Photography and Film Programme at Edinburgh Napier University in 2004. Hyena is the second feature film of director, Gerard Johnson, in which Peter Ferdinando plays a corrupt police officer and the leader of a special task force targeting London’s biggest drug traffickers. His increasingly self-destructive behaviour and the sheer brutality of the new gang lords find him in a spiraling descent of fear and self-doubt. Festival artistic director, Chris Fujiwara, describes it as ‘an exceptional example of the kind of film that our festival has traditionally supported: a work in which a director of artistic integrity takes a vigorous and imaginative approach to the renewal of a film genre.’ Hyena is having its World Premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and is in competition for the Michael Powell Award for the best British feature film. The Gala Night screening is at the Festival Theatre on Wednesday June 18th.
After leaving Edinburgh Napier, Benjamin Kracun graduated with an MA in Cinematography from the National Film School in Beaconsfield. He was cinematographer on The Comedian a feature film directed by Tom Shkolnik starring Edward Hogg that was selected for the 2012 London Film Festival, and was on cinema release throughout the UK.
He was then cinematographer on For Those in Peril, the debut feature film of Scottish director Paul Wright. This was described by Variety as ‘a visually arresting poetic reverie.’ For Those in Peril was selected for the Critics Week at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and was shown at last year’s Edinburgh Film Festival, before going on cinema release in the UK.