On Screen

After graduating from the Image department of The Fémis school in 2010, Michaël Capron signs his sixth feature film as director of photography with Mongrel, by Wei Liang Chiang - co-directed by You Qiao Yin -, a film selected for the Director’s Fortnight at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Having previously been on the Croisette, he also served as cinematographer on Vincent Le Port’s film Bruno Reidal, selected for the Critics’ Week in 2021. (Editor’s note)

With The Girl with the Needle, Swedish filmmaker Magnus Von Horn (who studied in Łódź and lives in Warsaw) delves into a harsh depiction of poverty in 1920s Denmark. This frightening black-and-white tale draws parallels with certain aspects and characters (notably the circus scene) from The Elephant Man, David Lynch’s 1980 Gothic monument (photographed by the great cinematographer and director Freddie Francis, BSC). Behind the camera is Michal Dymek, PSC, the young Polish cinematographer (noted for EO, which competed in 2022). He talks to us about black-and-white filmmaking, relative authenticity, and the unforeseen events on set that can sometimes turn into assets for the film... (FR)

After more than 10 years of absence, the filmmaker behind The Godfather and Apocalypse Now returns with an extremely personal project in which he has invested a significant portion of his fortune. This is Megalopolis, a fable aimed at younger generations that reinterprets classical texts from ancient Rome in the context of a futuristic city reminiscent at times of Batman’s Gotham. It is also a family film with many main roles, featuring extensive sets and special effects to immerse the audience in this anticipatory atmosphere. The film is shot by Romanian-born cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr., ASC, a loyal collaborator of the director for nearly 20 years. The film is in Official competition for the 77^th Palme d’Or.

Opening Un Certain Regard competition, Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson’s new film is about grief and lies. The young Icelandic actress and singer Elin Hall plays an ambiguous character, torn between the pain of losing her man and the impossibility of revealing him to others... Swedish cinematographer Sophia Olsson shot the film, which is almost entirely shot in Iceland’s capital, and whose iconic locations will undoubtedly evoke memories for lovers of this timeless city. (FR)

2055: Youtuber Steevy Shady recounts for his followers the tormented passion between Mimi Madamour, a starlet born of a Star Academy-type TV talent show, and Billie, a punk rocker who performs in lesbian clubs, from the early 2000s to 2015, then 2055. From the meteoric rise to the disgrace of each of them successively, this glittering musical comedy draws on flashy pop references and playfully mixes eras and image regimes to paint, under its parodic guise, a most political love story. (HdR)

Vingt Dieux, the first feature film by Louise Courvoisier, a graduate of the first CinéFabrique class, has been selected for Un Certain Regard. At Cannes in 2019, the Cinéfondation had rewarded the director by awarding First Prize to her short film Mano a mano. Cinematographer Elio Balézeaux, who also graduated from the CinéFabrique in 2019 - and who has since worked as cinematographer on documentaries such as Sébastien Lifshitz’s Madame Hoffman - was responsible for bringing Vingt Dieux to life. In the text below, he talks about their work together on the film, which is also his first feature-length fiction.

Part experimental film, part documentary, part fantasy, Camila Beltrán’s Mi Bestia portrays a young girl transitioning from childhood in 1990s Bogotá. Sylvain Verdet shot the images for this first original feature film, having previously collaborated on Beltrán’s short film Pacifico Obscuro four years prior. Mi Bestia has been selected at ACID. (FR)

Josée and I have a "little history", as she likes to remind me, since she was on the jury that validated my diploma at "La Fémis" [French Film School, NDLR]. She followed my early work as a cinematographer in the years that followed, and here we are, eleven years later, on the phone, her shooting in London, me in Paris, talking about her collaboration with Thierry de Peretti. (LB)

Writer, director and photographer Agathe Riedinger, a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD), directed two short films before embarking on the production of her first feature-length film, Diamant Brut. She explores the same themes as in her short films: denouncing the overload of societal norms for women and thus addressing the question of female emancipation. Noé Bach, AFC, worked with the young director to bring this ultra-modern story to life visually. He offers an exhilarating contemporaneity of the framing and texture that meticulously complements the script. Diamant Brut is the only debut film selected for the Official Competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. (BB)

Sophie Fillières’ filming of Agnès Jaoui, who plays Barberie Bichette in Ma vie, ma gueule (This Life of Mine), tells the story of a woman in her mid-fifties. Her loyal collaborator, Emmanuelle Collinot, shot the director’s last film before she died just a few weeks after shooting ended. The pitch of the film "how to deal with oneself, with death, with life in short..." particularly resonates for Ma vie, ma gueule, which opens the 2024 Quinzaine des Cinéastes. (BB)

Peter Biziou, BSC, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his entire body of work at the Camerimage festival this year. A retrospective enabled all festivalgoers to discover or rediscover some of his biggest hits, and a conference about his career was held before a packed audience. This conference highlighted four key films from his body of work, and then the audience was given an opportunity to ask questions.

This year, Camerimage celebrated the 550^th anniversary of the birth of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus at Toruń. Besides the exceptional showing of the painting Astronomer Copernicus or Conversations with God for the length of the festival, and two conferences on the theme of the connection between science and cinematography, the organizers also concocted a special retrospective of films that portrayed some of the most revolutionary scientists of the past century. On Wednesday, the film Radioactive was screened for the second time since it was first selected at the festival’s special session in 2019. This was the occasion for cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, DFF, BSC, ASC, to present the film, whose theatrical release was interrupted by the quarantines of 2020.

In competition for the first time at Camerimage, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and the Amazon series "Lord of the Rings") and his Uruguayan cinematographer Pedro Luque answered the audience’s questions after the screening of his new film, The Society of the Snow. (FR)

While Killers of the Flower Moon was being presented in the main competition, Barbie won the FilmLight Colour Award for Feature Film at the beginning of the festival. Rodrigo Prieto, AMC, ASC was the cinematographer for both of these films. He is currently in post-production for his first film as director, -Pedro Páramo-, and took a few days off to come to Toruń to accompany his films amidst this dual celebration. Yesterday, Friday, he answered questions from festival attendees following the screening of Barbie.

During the 31^st festival EnergaCamerimage held in Toruń (Poland), from 11 to 18 November 2023, we have published more than 40 written or video interviews (12 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.

For his second film as a director, actor Viggo Mortensen tells a love story hindered by the Civil War. He stars alongside Vicky Krieps, in an atmosphere that blends classic and modern Western elements. Enhanced by intertwining editing of different time lines, and stunning cinematography by Marcel Zyskind, DFF, the film was shot on locations across Mexico & Canada. It’s presented out of competition during a special screening at Camerimage. (FR)

Christophe Honoré and Rémy Chevrin, AFC, are one of the most emblematic director/cinematographer couples in French "cinéma d’auteur". They have already shot nine films together and their faithful collaboration has been going strong since Seventeen Times Cécile Cassard, 24 years ago. Their next feature has already been wrapped and scheduled for release in spring 2024. Last year, they released Winter Boy, a film for which young actor Paul Kircher won the award for Best Actor at the San Sebastian Festival. A look back on the photographic challenges of this adolescent drama with the cinematographer who was selected out-of-competition at Camerimage 2023 in the Contemporary World Cinema section. (FR)

Produced for the new Paramount+ platform launched in December 2022, the series "The Offer" is a recreation of a mythical moment in cinema history: the adaptation and production of Mario Puzo’s bestseller "The Godfather". The writer, the main character of the series – who is eventually promoted to co-writer-, is surrounded by an array of protagonists who make up the amazing success of the project. Top of the list, the incredible Matthew Goode, who plays Bob Evans, head of the Paramount studio. He seems to come straight out of the legendary documentary "The Kid Stays in the Picture", originally devoted to him.
For the first time in his long career, Italian-American cinematographer Salvatore Totino (Davinci Code, Everest...) was in charge of this series, and photographed the first six episodes. Three directors follow one another around him (Dexter Fletcher, Adam Arkin and Collin Bucksey). "The Offer" is competing for the Golden Frog for Best Series at Camerimage 2023. (FR)