AFC-related activities

The Annual General Assembly of Imago took place from February 15 to 17, 2008 in Amsterdam. Representatives of the European associations were invited to gather in the Dutch capital on the afternoon of Friday, February 15^th.

The meeting ended the presidency of Andreas Fisher-Hansen (FDF), who had agreed, during an exceptional general assembly in Paris on December 13^th, 2003, to take on the burdensome task of reorganizing Imago.

At the last Cannes Film Festival we started a series of interviews with directors of photography who were not members of the AFC.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lubomir Bakchev at the special screening, organized jointly with the CST, of A Secret by Claude Miller, photographed by Gérard de Battista.

I knew that the release of The Secret of the Grain (La Graine et le mulet) by Abdellatif Kechiche was imminent and I asked Lubomir to see a preview. I then suggested to Lubomir that we extend our conversation with the present interview.

If I had one wish to make for the AFC, it is that interviews, like the one of Gérard de Battista by Wilfrid Sempé, become a means of strengthening relationships and kinship between members, and of reinforcing that most important subject for the future of our association: the image of a film.

Enjoy the interview. Eric Guichard

On November 7^th, 2007 at the Espace Cardin, Paris 8^th, the AFC and CST organized an event entitled “From Digital to 35mm” based around Claude Miller’s film, A Secret. A discussion with the film’s director of photography, Gérard de Battista followed the screening. Wilfrid Sempé wished to continue this discussion by talking with Gérard who “went digital” once again on a Claude Miller film.

Josée Deshaies is a Quebecker. Having studied Art History in Italy, she started training in Montreal as a second assistant cameraman, before photographing documentaries and short films. Through her encounter with Bertrand Bonello, she switched to full length with Quelque chose d’organique (Something Organic) in 1998. Since then, she has photographed such films as Royal Bonbon by Charles Najman, Cache cache by Yves Caumon, Les Invisibles by Thierry Jousse as well as Bertrand Bonello’s Tiresia and Le Pornographe (The Pornographer). Two of the films selected for this year’s edition of the Director’s fortnight were photographed by Deshaies: Avant que j’oublie (Before I Forget) by Jacques Nolot and La Question humaine (The Human Question) by Nicolas Klotz. (FR)

Upon graduating from the Femis in 1999, Celine Bozon made her debut with Jean-Paul Civeyrac on Fantômes, a low-budget film freely shot on video with a tiny crew. The result, feature film Fantômes, was given a theatrical release. Then came Le Doux amour des hommes (Man’s Gentle Love) and Toutes ces belles promesses (All the Fine Promises). At the same time, she shot medium-length Mods with her brother Serge Bozon, then two films by Tony Gatlif (Exils (Exiles) and Transylvania). In 2007, two of the films she photographed were selected in the Quinzaine des réalisateurs: her brother’s second feature La France and Lebanese Danielle Arbid’s Un homme perdu (A Lost Man).

The IMAGO Board: President Andreas Fischer-Hansen, DFF, Vice-president Tony Costa, AIP, and General Secretary Paul-René Roestad, FNF, had their yearly board meeting in Paris, hosted by AFC in rue Francoeur.

Having worked for over 20 years as a gaffer to the greatest American cinematographers of the 1970s (Bruce Surtees, Owen Roiszman, Haskell Wexler, Conrad Hall…), then 46-year-old Tom Stern started a new career as a cinematographer on Clint Eastwood’s Blood Work. His faithful collaborator since 1981 Honkytonk Man, he has photographed all of the star’s films since 2002 and subsequently won several international awards.
Four years after Mystic River, Tom Stern returns to Cannes as foreman of the CST jury.

You can now order the first issue of the French-language review Lumières, les Cahiers de l’AFC, which comes with a CD containing movie excerpts, film stills, set photos and other documents.

The price is 15 Euros (CD included) not including mailing costs
The student price is 12 Euros not including mailing costs
Mailing costs are 3 Euros within France, contact us for other country costs
Upon request an invoice is added to the mailing

You can also pick up a copy in Paris at the AFC, 8 rue Francœur - Paris 18ème - FRANCE

Click here to order one or more copies

Below is the table of contents (note that all the texts are in French)

The AFC has just published the Image Charter, designed to re-specify the responsibilities and obligations incumbent upon a Director of Photography. This document will be used as a basis during this period of changing technologies and working conditions.

AFC Image Charter English version

Bogen Imaging France What could be more magical, in films, than the self-blocking articulated arm known as... the magic arm? We are all familiar with it because we use it for setting up our lighting, tripods, joints, stands and other studio accessories developed by Lino Manfrotto. In 1989, Multistand Co, established two years previously by Thierry Martin, became Manfrotto France. The firm specialised in the distribution of a great variety of brands connected with cinema, video and photography and Bogen Imaging France - the new name (...)

At the last two board meetings, one of which was held in late November (just when the last Newsletter came out) and in mid-December, several new active and associate members were admitted and they have come to join us at the AFC: the directors of photography Laurent Brunet, Claude Garnier, Marc Koninckx and François Lartigue.

1 - Definition of the term Director of Photography
2 - Study of the project with the director and production
3 - Defining the technical workflow
4 - Putting together the camera team
5 - Tests and production
6 - Editing and post-production

At one of its meetings prior to the summer, the Board decided to appoint Benjamin Bergery as a consultant member of the AFC.

To say that the 2005 version of the AFC Micro Show was a complete successful is no empty boast !
The fête was going full blast on Thursday March 10^th at the Femis film school.

• At home and cosy by Alain Gauthier

• Roger and Maurice Fellous, seen through the eyes of Georges Lautner
  Georges Lautner talks about the time he spent with his " Uncle Operators ", the new honorary members of the AFC. (Editor’s note)

• Welcome to our new honorary members, by Jean-Jacques Bouhon
  Just a few words to say how happy I am to welcome Roger and Maurice Fellous to our ranks. It brings back memories of the early days of my career.

With the arrival in January of Yves Lafaye, Pascal Poucet and Jean-Louis Vialard, there are now eighty active members. At the start of 2005, I would like to pay homage and warmly thank the active members, associate members and founder members of the AFC. They can be proud of their baby.

• Yves Lafaye introduced by Gérard de Battista

• Pascal Poucet introduced by Robert Alazraki and Christophe Beaucarne

Let’s consider a hypothetical world where all literary output gradually centred on a single nation except for a few residual poles whose limited influence would progressively diminish. We would have to ask ourselves what literature could possibly deserve this exorbitant privilege and, above all, what other literatures would have to be sacrificed. And then imagine what happens when the literature of this nation, carried by its deadly dynamic, reigns supreme: what would be left for it to destroy except itself ?