Conversations with cinematographers

For A Prayer Before Dawn, the latest film by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (author of the much remarked-upon 2008 film Johnny Mad Dog), David Ungaro, AFC, immersed himself into the universes of prisons and of Thai boxing. This powerful punch of a film is on the true story of Billy Moore, a young delinquent from Liverpool, who was imprisoned in Thailand’s Klong Prem prison for drug trafficking. Thai boxing gradually helped him to survive and get out of this hell alive... A look back on this film shot between Thailand and the Philippines, and which will be screened this year during Cannes’ Midnight Screenings. (FR)

Some directors are regulars on the Croisette and Arnaud Desplechin is one of them, as this is his 7^th time at Cannes, this year with Ismaël’s Ghosts, the film chosen to open the 70^th annual Cannes Film Festival, and whose director of photography was Irina Lubtchansky.

Before he was fêted within the temple of French cinephilia, Darius Khondji agreed to participate in a particular sort of interview during which we asked him to react to a series of surprise images. The DoP of Delicatessen and Seven discussed some of his memories, inspirations, anxieties, and passions with us. (FR)

In honor of the French release on 25 January 2017 of Damien Chazelle’s La La Land (cinematography by Linus Sandgren, FSF), the Swedish director of photography granted us an interview about his work on this film, which was recently given an award by the foreign press association in Hollywood.

Although the special effects and post-production are still being worked on, the first trailers and on-set stories have begun to appear on the Internet from Luc Besson’s adaptation of Christin and Merières cult comic. Thierry Arbogast, AFC, a member of Besson’s innermost circle (and of EuropaCorp, the production company he founded), is, of course, this film’s director of photography. He first worked as a director of photography on a Besson film 20 years ago on The Fifth Element, and is here to discuss with us the particularities of this new “space opera”.

Avi Nesher’s latest film, shot between Łódź and Jerusalem, is in competition for the Golden Frog at Camerimage this year. Michel Abramowicz, AFC, discusses the making of this period film that plunges viewers into Israeli society of the 1970s.

In a video interview, the cinematographer James Laxton talks about his work on Barry Jenkins’ movie, Moonlight, in Main competition. On movie mates, isolation, swiming lesson, moonlight on the beach, dark skins lighting...

The Innocents, directed by Anne Fontaine, recounts the meeting of a young Red Cross volunteer with a group of nuns, in the Polish countryside, just after the War. The occupants of the convent, victims of rape by Red Army soldiers during the liberation of Poland, are confronting the ensuing pregnancies, which they do not want disclosed to the outside world. Torn between religious obligation and maternal instinct, the destiny of these women, who have taken vows of celibacy, is suddenly in question...

Apprentice is the second feature-length film by young Singaporean director Boo Junfeng. It deals with a subject that is taboo in the small, prosperous Southeast-Asian city-state: the death penalty.

With Toni Erdmann, German director Maren Ade was able to make the audience in the Grand Théâtre Lumière laugh for 90 of the 160 minutes of her film. The subject of the film is the existential crisis experienced by a female senior executive sent to work in Bucharest, and we can but applaud the tour de force that ought to see the director and her actors reach the highest levels of the Awards Ceremony on the evening of 22 May. Silke Fischer and Patrick Orth (production designer and cinematographer) discuss this strange Romanian-German “feel good movie”. (FR)

For his seventh feature film, the Belgian director Joachim Lafosse meets again the cinematographer Jean-François Hensgens, AFC, SBC, with whom he already worked on Avant les mots, Our children and The White Knights.

Following 17 Girls, which garnered attention at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Delphine and Muriel Coulin are once again in selection for Un Certain Regard with Stopover. This film explores a little-known facet of the French Army: the decompression sessions that take place at the end of each mission and allow soldiers to return to “normal” life, far from the theatre of operations. Their faithful cinematographer, Jean-Louis Vialard, AFC, explains the challenges of this film that was principally shot under the sunlight of the Island of Rhodes.

Peter Suschitzky, ASC, was awarded this year’s Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography Prize at Cannes. This was the opportunity for us to meet with David Cronenberg’s faithful fellow traveller for a filmed interview in English. His high-profile filmography also contains a few cult classics like The Empire Strikes Back, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Mars Attacks.

Somewhere in Canada’s Great North, Sam and Lucy are passionately in love with each other. But when she decides to leave their small town for her studies, Sam considers breaking up. Their love will be put to the test… In this video interview, Cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc, CSC, discusses the cinematography of this romantic story filmed at -40°C with snowmobiles, a rifle, the aurora borealis… and a whisky-loving white bear.

Natasha Brier was very much in view at Cannes in 2014 for her work on the Australian suspense film The Rover, and she is back at Cannes this year with Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. The Neon Demon is set within the fashion industry, and portrays Elle Fanning in the role of a young woman who arrives in Los Angeles to work as a model. The ambiance mixes horror and sophistication for a film that seems to be one of the craziest by the director of Drive, which won the award for Best Director at Cannes in 2011. (FR)

Upon graduating from La fémis in 2006 Julien Poupard designed the lighting on a number of short films and was noticed for his work on Party Girl, awarded a Golden Camera at Cannes in 2014. He is a faithful collaborator on first films and for young directors – for example 40-Love by Stéphane Demoustier, or Les Ogres, by Léa Fehner – now he is back with Divines, the first feature-length film by director Houda Benyamina, in selection at the Directors’ Fortnight.

Quebecer André Turpin combines the roles of director of photography, director and screenwriter. Endorphin, his last film, was recently released in Canada. His career as a cinematographer relies on his loyal collaboration with Denis Villeneuve for August 32^nd on Earth, Maelstrom (Jutra for Best Cinematography) and Incendies (Genie and Jutra Awards for Best Cinematography). Since Tom at the Farm, André Turpin has been working with the young Quebecois director Xavier Dolan. He was the cinematographer for It’s Only the End of the World, the sixth feature by the most prolific director of this 69^th annual Cannes Film Festival, in competition for the Golden Palm. (BB)

Nicole Garcia ’s latest feature is an adaptation of the eponym novel written by the Italian Milena Agus: From the Land of the Moon. While she is no stranger to the Croisette with films like 15 Août, The Adversary, According to Charlie, From the Land of the Moon is in competition for the 69^th Festival’s Palme d’Or. For the cinematography of her 8^th film, Nicole Garcia called upon Christophe Beaucarne, AFC, SBC, and loyal partner of Jaco Van Doermel, Mathieu Amalric or Anne Fontaine. (BB