AFC-related activities

In late June 2023, during the Euro Cine Expo in Munich (cinema equipment trade show), Claire & Rob Sanders, the managers, gave six slots to the Imago Technical Committee (ITC) to exhibit their work. Among these presentations, ITC proposed a panel entitled “Artistic decisions in cinematography - To be burned or not to be burned?”

Doubly honored in 2023 (at the Manaki Brothers Festival and soon at Camerimage), British cinematographer Peter Biziou, BSC, shares with us some memories from his long and prestigious career on commercial and fiction sets. Although Mississippi Burning (Oscar for Best Cinematography in 1989) was undoubtedly his highest distinction, his name has appeared in the credits of films such as Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, Richard Loncraine’s Richard III, or Peter Weir’s The Truman Show. (FR)

In keeping with our time-tested formula: one location, two dates, three reasons to visit the AFC’s Micro Salon and to note next year’s dates in your calendar, Wednesday 7^th February and Thursday 8^th February 2024 at the Parc Floral de Paris.

Always catching his viewers by surprise, Michel Franco’s latest film is an authentic love story. This improbable romance between two people who have been wounded by life gives Jessica Chastain (Sylvia) and Peter Sarsgaard (Saul) the opportunity to explore two beautiful characters who must face their flaws and their courage. Yves Cape, AFC, has once again (for the fifth time) teamed up with the Mexican director to shoot this independent film in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Memory is in Official Competition for the Golden Lion at the 80^th Annual Mostra de Venise. (FR)

The AFC Prizes’s admissions are now open, until October 17, 2023. On the following article you can find reminder of related informations and how to submit a film.

After joining the AFC just a short while ago, cinematographer Amine Berrada is introduced in this article by his sponsors Pierre Aïm and Agnès Godard, both members of the association, in the words they used to introduce him to their peers who voted on his application for membership.

Recently admitted to the AFC, cinematographer Sarah Blum is presented here by her two AFC sponsors, Agnès Godard and Claire Mathon, in the same words they used in support of her application for membership to the members of the association’s board of directors.

Damien Dufresne, the AFC’s newest active member, is presented below by Olivier Chambon and Pierre Milon, his AFC sponsors, via two texts they wrote in support of his admission.

Created by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof, "Mrs. Davis" is an eight-episode series produced by Warner Bros TV released on its own streaming service Peacock in late April. Xavier Dolléans, AFC, was the cinematographer for episodes 3 and 4, directed by Alethea Jones and shot in Spain. Interviewed here by screenwriter and director Jonathan Bensimhon, he discusses the technical challenges he had to overcome and the artistic, organizational and human particularities of such a production.

The AFC Prizes are launched. All information below.

The AFC is happy to announce that it will be organizing its first-ever AFC Award Ceremony in 2024. This ceremony will recognize excellence in cinematographic work.

At 8:30 a.m., the lights go out and the film begins. This is the beginning of my day as a festivalgoer. It is the beginning of the day for a member of the Caméra d’Or jury. I am very honored and grateful to the AFC for allowing me to spend two weeks at Cannes. I tried to show myself from time to time at the AFC stand, but my schedule didn’t allow me many opportunities. Watching films was my sole occupation for ten days, then discussing, speaking, sharing my feelings about them with the other members of the jury.

After shooting The French Dispatch in France in Angoulême, Wes Anderson and his crew decided to set their new film in Spain’s desert. For Asteroid City is therefore a very brilliant hommage to 1950’s America and to stage play, as the prologue says. Robert Yeoman, ASC, whose long filmography notably includes William Friekin’s masterpiece To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) shares his lensing and lighting choices on this new nostalgic fable, where John Ford’s desert and SF imagery are sometimes meeting. (FR)

Justine Triet’s (Sybil, Victoria) new film is multidimensional, layer after layer being progressively peeled away as the film progresses. Starting as a family drama involving a Franco-German couple and their visually impaired son, the film evolves around a series of characters, in the context of a high-profile criminal trial. Simon Beaufils created the images for this closed doors thriller, with 2.5 hours divided between a high mountain chalet and a courtroom. Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute) was awarded the 76^th Palme d’or. (FR)

During the 76^th Cannes Film Festival, we have published 32 written interviews (13 are in English, others in French), in which directors of photography speak about their work on the selected movies. Here are the links allowing you to read each of them.

A film about young "ware-wolf" tiger girls? Yes, that’s how Amanda Nell Eu’s Tiger Stripes could be presented. This debut film from Malaysia opened the competition at the Critics’ Week, with great enthusiasm from both its crew and the audience. Its cinematographer Jimmy Gimferrer (Story of My Death - Histoire de ma mort by Albert Serra in 2013) talks to us about it... (FR)

One of Cannes most awaited screening was Sam Levinson’s new mini serie "The Idol". Discovered thanks to his award-winning series "Euphoria", – also produced by HBO – , he decided, for this new project, to tell a story about the heart of show business. Lily Rose Depp plays Jocelyn, an international pop star’s clone - surrounded by a swarm of people, orbiting financially around her.
New York based cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan was chosen by Sam Levinson to boldly begin the series, then handed over the cinematography to Marcell Rev HCA, ASC, who shot both seasons of "Euphoria".

Wacky and offbeat as per usual, Michel Gondry talks about himself in his latest film: a film director, in conflict with his producers, runs off to the Cévennes with the dailies to finish the film. Pierre Niney stars as Marc Becker, Gondry’s clone, alternately irritable and great, trying to finish his film at his old aunt Suzette’s (Francoise Lebrun) home, accompanied by his faithful editor Charlotte (Blanche Gardin) and his scapegoat assistant Sylvia (Frankie Wallach). Laurent Brunet, AFC (French society of Cinematographers) – now a part of the "Gondry family" since working on Microbes and Gasoil – was the cinematographer on this film... (FR)