Thomas Riedel Honored at Camerimage 2026 for Preserving European Film Technology With ARRI Acquisition

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Thomas Riedel Honored at Camerimage 2026 for Preserving European Film Technology With ARRI Acquisition

ARRI owner Thomas Riedel has been honored for preserving European film technology: he received a European Film Industry Preservation Award at the opening gala of the 34th ToruńCAMERIMAGE International Film Festival in Toruń, Poland, on Saturday, November 7, 2026. According to RIEDEL Communications, the festival honored him for his dedication to the European film industry, and the company links the award directly to his acquisition of ARRI earlier this year. For a man who comes from intercoms and live broadcast infrastructure, this is quite a welcome from the cinematography community.

I have to admit, I did not expect to write about Thomas Riedel and Camerimage in the same headline when he bought ARRI in April. Camerimage is the festival of the art of cinematography, and its audience is DPs, camera assistants and gaffers, not broadcast engineers. But the trophy plate says it clearly: “Thomas Riedel, ARRI, European Film Industry Preservation Award, CAMERIMAGE 2026”. RIEDEL Communications shared the news and the photos on LinkedIn, with the comment that “with this year’s acquisition of ARRI, he is sending a strong signal in support of innovation and the preservation of European film technology.”

Thomas Riedel with the European Film Industry Preservation Award at CAMERIMAGE 2026. Image credit: RIEDEL Communications

What the award is for

At the time of writing, the festival website does not list the award or give a written citation, so the information comes from RIEDEL Communications and from the trophy itself. The trophy is a golden frog statuette on a black stone base. The frog is the symbol of Camerimage, and the festival’s main competition prize is the Golden Frog. My reading of the award’s name is simple: the festival sees the sale of ARRI to a German entrepreneur, and not to a financial investor or a large non-European corporation, as a contribution to keeping European film technology in European hands. That is my interpretation, as the festival has not published its reasons yet.

Thomas Riedel on stage at the CAMERIMAGE 2026 opening gala. Image credit: RIEDEL Communications

That reading fits what we reported when the deal was announced. In our article on the acquisition, we described how the Stahl family, heirs of ARRI co-founder Robert Richter, ran an international bidding process for the 109-year-old Munich company. Thomas Riedel bought ARRI as sole owner of the Riedel Group, with his own capital. ARRI kept its independent operations, its headquarters in Munich and its management team under Managing Directors Chris Richter and David Bermbach.

Seven months of ARRI under Riedel

The award comes after a busy first half year. In May, ARRI and Riedel worked together at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, where 24 ARRI ALEXA 35 Live cameras ran on Riedel infrastructure, and we went behind the scenes there. In July, ARRI sold its global rental business to the division’s management, backed by H2 Equity Partners. Riedel had already told us at NAB 2026 that he did not strongly believe in a model where a manufacturer sells cameras to rental houses and competes with them at the same time.

Thomas Riedel during his speech at the opening gala, with the Camerimage frog statuette in his hand. Image credit: RIEDEL Communications

Much of the first year has been about live production, which is where Riedel is strongest. That is why I find the Camerimage award interesting. It puts the focus back on the part of ARRI that cinematographers care about most: the ALEXA cameras, the lenses and the lighting used on feature films. My feeling is that this is also a message from the festival to the new owner: the cinema community expects ARRI to stay a cinema company first (Thomas, if you are reading this, I think a lot of DPs in Toruń would agree with me).

Camerimage 2026

The 34th edition of the festival runs from November 7 to 14, 2026 in Toruń. Last year, the festival was still called EnergaCAMERIMAGE; this year, it carries the name of its host city, ToruńCAMERIMAGE. Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial”, shot by Malik Hassan Sayeed, opened the festival after the gala. ARRI has been a fixture at the festival for many years; last year, it ran a daily workshop series at its booth. If you have never been to Toruń, our complete guide to Camerimage 2025 gives a good idea of what the week looks like, from the workshops to the main competition. More information on this year’s program is on the official Camerimage website, and more about the company is on the RIEDEL website and the ARRI website.

Do you see the award as recognition of a deal that kept ARRI in European hands, or is it too early to judge what Thomas Riedel will do with the company? Let me know what you think in the comments below!