AFC-related activities

The second annual “Festival Chefs Op’ en lumière” organized by La Bobine, took place at Chalon-sur-Saône, from 11 to 15 March 2020. The spotlight was shone on Jonathan Ricquebourg, AFC, and Elin Kirschfink, AFC, SBC, joined by Manu Dacosse, SBC, Sébastien Goepfert, Antoine Héberlé, AFC, Gilles Porte, AFC, Marie Spencer, AFC, SBC, and Virginie Surdej, SBC. Pierre Lhomme, AFC, has been honored at this event, and a photographic exposition dedicated to Roger Corbeau was also featured.

Not only a warm and friendly atmosphere, but also a high level of technical expertise at the second annual Post-Production Days organized by the AFC at the Forum des images, as part of the Paris Images Trade Show (PITS), following the Micro Salon. Introduced by Caroline Champetier, AFC, and Gilles Porte, President of the AFC, the Post-Production Days were prepared by Thierry Beaumel, consulting member of the AFC, and moderated by François Reumont.

After their first film, Syngué Sabour, in 2012, Atiq Rahimi called on Thierry Arbogast a second time to film the adaptation of the eponymous novel by Scholastique Mukasonga. This story, somewhere between a Bildungsroman and a bloody tragedy, takes place in Rwanda in the 1970s against a background of sundrenched hills, rainy dawns, and dreamy forests, and is set in a Catholic boarding school far outside of the city whose pupils are upper-class young ladies.

Besides being a direct journey through a war-torn landscape, 1917 is also a literal dive into the heart of time, and Sam Mendes uses a vast palette of directorial techniques to recreate it. The set, which in the opening sequence literally sets the viewer in the middle of a trench in the Somme, the extremely profound sound, with extreme dynamic effects, and the image with its single shot that transforms this simple tale of a suicide mission into a sort of theatrical play where the style gradually transcends the authentic. An exceptional project requires an exceptional director of photography, namely Roger Deakins, BSC, ASC, who has graciously agreed to discuss the behind-the-scenes of this unique film with us. (FR)

The 7^th Annual Paris Images Trade Show (PITS) is comprised of six main events with complementary themes intended to promote the entire French audiovisual and cinematographic industry. PITS will be an opportunity to develop a reflection around France’s place in international cinema from the economic, technical and artistic standpoints.

The second AFC Post-Production Days will take place at the Forum des Images in Paris on:

• Tuesday, 21 January.
• Wednesday, 22 January 2020.

One location, two days, three reasons to mark your agendas for AFC’s upcoming Micro Salon at the Parc Floral de Paris

• on Thursday, 16 January -10am to 22pm
• and Friday, 17 January - 10am to 18pm

Two days of good cheer, discussions, and knowledge dedicated to the tools used to create cinematographic images.

With her first film, entitled Swallos, director Carlo Mirabella-Davis portrays a young woman suffering from a compulsive eating disorder. But this is also the story of a young woman searching for freedom and truth in a very artificial world. American cnematographer Katelin Arizmendi invites us backstage…

After he had worked for Jean-Claude Larrieu as his assistant operator, Larrieu encouraged Romain Alary to work on a project as a cinematographer. Since the early 2010s, he has worked on the cinematography of several advertisements and clips for brands such as Hermès, Cartier, Fendi, Renault and Honda. "Give it Up", by San Zhi, is his first music video, created in partnership with his cousin Antoine Lévi. A very personal project entirely shot with a small crew. (FR)

Since the opening of Camerimage 2019, in Toruń (Poland), on November 9^th, we have published every day written or filmed interviews with directors of photography about their work on a film selected in one or other of the sections of the Festival, in both French and English. Here are the links to read or watch each of them in English.

The great Italian cinematographer discusses examples of films from throughout his extremely prestigious and varied career from the perspective of his relationship with their production designers. Amongst the films discussed: Michael Apted’s Nell, Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead, and Michael Mann’s Insider and Manhunter.

The partner of directors such as Peter Greenaway (Murder by Numbers, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover), Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, S1m0ne), and Oliver Stone (Alexander, World Trade Center), Dutch production designer Jan Roelfs is at Camerimage 2019 to receive the special annual prize for Unique Visual Sensitivity. He tells us about his perspective on working with cinematographers on projects and shares a few memories from the shooting of his greatest films…

Tristan Chenais works in both France and the UK, where he studied at the National Film and TV School. It is there that he met director Richard Hall, with whom he has been working ever since on advertisements and music videos. "New Start", for singer Moss Kena, is one of them, produced by Riff Raff Films, one of the most prestigious advertising and music video firms in London.

By beginning his film with a very funny story (Pope Francis tries to make an airplane reservation himself, but the travel agent hangs up on him when he says his name), Fernando Meireiles gives his story a humourous tone. This is also a film that describes the intimacy of papal life with a great deal of realism, which gives way to moments of great warmth on screen between Anthony Hopkins (Joseph Ratzinger) and Jonathan Price (Jorge Mario Bergoglio). Cesar Charlone, the Brazilian filmmaker’s faithful collaborator, is at Camerimage to present this Netflix film.

After their first success with a film whose meticulous recreation of a 17^th-century community caused a sensation (The Witch, 2015), the duo composed of Robert Egger (director) and Jarin Blaschke (cinematographer) has taken on another, even more concentrated historical fantasy project. Namely, the meeting between two men (Robert Pattinson and Wilhelm Dafoe) alone on an island where they are the caretakers of a lighthouse in the early 19^th century. The film was shot in Nova Scotia and has very dense visuals evocative both of silent film and period fantastic engravings. The film was presented in the Directors’ Debuts competition at Camerimage 2019.

During his visit to Camerimage to present the second film adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling novel (It: Chapter 2), Peruvian cinematographer Checco Varese, ASC, discussed with us his unique way of approaching the shooting of this film. In no particular order, he discussed his passion for doing things directly on set as well as his vision of the profession in the age of special effects. With his calm and clever smile, welcome to the chef’s kitchen!

With Joker, Todd Phillips has confirmed his great talent as a director, a writer, and a producer, which was already evident on the Very Good Trip franchise (2009) or the incredible Project X (2012). This film was created in an atmosphere of mutual trust, which makes daring experimentation possible: the producer was his actor/director friend Bradley Cooper, his editor was Jeff Groth (Project X), and the cinematography was by Lawrence Sher, who has been his faithful companion since the start of his career. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance has already been acclaimed several times (likely opening the pathway to his first Oscar), and the film has enjoyed enormous success with audiences since its release, unleashing polemics and passions in an international social context which sometimes makes reality into fiction. Lawrence Sher, ASC, joins us for an in-depth interview on the creation of this classic yet unique film about insanity.

Teenage girl Tati lives at the very top of a flight of stairs in a favela in Rio de Janeiro with her mother, who is almost young enough to be her older sister. Her father is the former local crime boss and has been in prison since before she was born. But one day, he returns. For her first film, Laura Merians has created an image full of strength and colors at the heart of a classic tale of redemption whose visual narration elegantly takes over from the literary narration of the script. The strong and endearing characters round off this dizzying dive into contemporary Brazil, where violence has become totally normalized and is a part of the daily lives of millions of people.