festivals

The AFC will be especially well-represented at the 74^th Cannes Film Festival with over 25 films screened, two of its members will be on juries, a third member will receive an award, and others will be in attendance to represent one of their films in selection. The AFC will be housed by the CST at its stand – as usual – and will be sending out its Cannes newsletter, a daily recap of articles, images and interviews carried out especially for the occasion with cinematographers (both AFC and non-AFC members) with a film in selection.

Every year, Angénieux, an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival since 2013, honors a great director of photography. This year, the Pierre Angénieux Tribute will be awarded to Agnès Godard, AFC, on 16 July at 8 pm in the Buñuel Hall of the Palais des Festivals during an exceptional evening opened by Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, and the award will be presented by Pierre Zéni.

A short time before the start of the Camerimage Film Festival, at which Sympathy for the Devil was selected in the Director’s Debuts Competition, cinematographer Pierre Aïm (winner of the Grenouille d’or in 1995 for La Haine) granted the AFC an interview about his work on that film. During the festival, he reminisced about his experience during a Q&A session held right after a Q&A by the film’s director, Guillaume de Fontenay.

On the occasion of his being awarded a lifetime achievement award, Philippe Rousselot, AFC, ASC, answered questions from Jean-Marie Dreujou, Caroline Champetier, and Denis Lenoir. During their conversation, which was broadcast live on the 2020 Camerimage Festival’s online platform, they discussed the start of his career in France and abroad, including his work with Nestor Almendros. In keeping with his relaxed attitude and straight-talking approach, this recipient of three César awards and one Oscar delighted his colleagues with many memories from shoots and a discussion of the risks a DP sometimes has to take, and the opportunities he has to seize, on set. (FR)

Among the music videos in competition this year at Camerimage, one of them definitely gives light a leading role. "Good Luck", from the group Broken Bells tells the run away of a young boy who gets bored at home and starts meeting people who seem a bit like him, shining from inside. Andrew Droz Palermo tells us how this original music video was made. (FR)

Available on Amazon Prime Video, "Hunters" is one of the flagship programs of year 2020 for Jeff Bezos’ platform. Produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out), and written by David Weil, this 10-episodes series is a kind of homage to B cinema. The premise: a Nazi hunt in New York City in the 70’s, led by Al Pacino. Somewhere between extreme violence and humor. Fred Elmes, ASC, has lensed this pilot, picked up from the Fist Look - TV Pilots section at Camerimage 2020. (FR)

Produced and starring actor Ethan Hawke in a state of grace, The Good Lord Bird is a Showtime set just before the Civil War.
Albert Hughes (who directed Menace II Society, with his twin brother Allen) directed the pilot, while Peter Deming, ASC (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive...) shot the seven episodes. He spoke with us about this film shot in Virginia, and which proposes a simultaneously modern and classic vision of a Western.(FR)

After Dogman, in 2018, the Roman director Matteo Garonne once again teams up with Danish cinematographer Nicolaj Brüel, DFF, on a new adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s popular tale Pinocchio. In this adaptation Garonne’s passion for the marvelous is obvious – it was already present in Tale of Tales, 2015, with a parade of characters and places that transpose the children’s tale into a world sometimes close to German romanticism. Pinocchio is selected in the main competition at the Camerimage 2020 festival. (FR)

Adapted from a true story, The Banker is directed by George Nolfi (screenwriter of Ocean’s Twelve and The bourne Ultimatum). This movie tells the uncommon journey of Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris, two black businessmen who eventually bought banks in Texas and democratized loans for the Afro-American community in the late 50’s. Written as a heist film with an Hitchcockian visual tone, Charlotte Bruus Christensen signs the image of this Apple TV production. (FR)

Selected in competition in Camerimage in the "Cinematographer’s Debuts" and "Director’s Debuts" categories, which are open to first and second films, Two of Us, by Filippo Meneghetti, tells the turbulent love affair between two retired women. At once a romance, a drama, and even at times a thriller, this film was cinematographer Aurélien Marra’s second feature film. The film is mainly set under the autumn sun in the south of France, with interiors shot in studio in Luxembourg. (FR)

Pierre Aïm undertook a very realistic reconstruction of Sarajevo for Sympathy for the Devil, the first film by Guillaume de Fontenay (Quebec director who started his career in the theatre). The film, released in Paris in late 2019, was selected at Camerimage this year in the “Director’s Debut” competition. Here, he discusses his influences for this film, fake wartime reporting and cigar smoke…

Marcel Zyskind is a Danish cinematographer who has often worked with British director Michael Winterbottom. He has also shot several documentaries, clips and advertising campaigns. He became close with Viggo Mortensen during their shared experiences on The Two Faces of January, a film by Hossein Amini (the screenwriter of Drive), and the international star actor chose him to be the DoP for Falling, his first film as a director, in Camerimage’s Main Competition. This is a film that constantly oscillates between past and present in order to portray the complicated relationship between a son and his father. (FR)

The Camerimage Festival (which will be called the EnergaCAMERIMAGE festival for another 3 years since Energa is its “strategic” sponsor) has announced that it will hold its 28^th Annual Festival from 14-21 November 2020 and has provided information about how it will be organized in a hybrid fashion, both in Toruń (Poland) and online. Moreover, this year’s festival will honor Philippe Rousselot, AFC, ASC, who has been nominated for many prizes and who received an Academy Award®, a BAFTA Award, and three Césars.

I was a member of the jury for the Directors’ Debuts Competition, which features first and second films, at Camerimage this year, alongside Rob Epstein (Jury President), director, screenwriter, and producer, and Jan Roelfs, production designer, who received the Camerimage Award for Production Designer With Unique Visual Sensitivity this year.

On 13 November, at 11:15 a.m., Screening Room 6 of Torun’s Cinema City was full with expectant faces and latecomers continued to quickly make their way past the stage well after the event had begun, to be sure not to miss the talk by Julie Grünebaum, Éric Guichard, and Julien Poupard. Julie was slotted to speak about Chant d’hiver and Dzma, Eric about Saisons and Donne-moi des ailes, and Julien about Misérables.

The Filmlight seminars are always a big hit, and the length of the queue to enter the auditorium makes one fear the worst! Philippe Ros, AFC, on behalf of Imago’s Technological Committee, introduced the seminar by reminding the audience of the Federation’s work on textures, which is available on Imago’s website. The famous FilmLight seminar duo was at the controls: Daniele Sirugusano, Color Scientist, and Andreas Minuth, Colorist.

Ian Lowe, Senior Sales Manager for Dolby Laboratories, presents what HDR is in Dolby’s view, how to create a program that can be released in SDR and HDR, followed by a discussion with Alex Gascoigne, colourist with Technicolor, and Tina Eckman, of Dolby.

Because students from the ENS Louis-Lumière and La Fémis attended Camerimage this year, the AFC offered them the opportunity of contributing in one way or another to the articles that are published on our website and broadcast via our newsletters. Camille Aubriot, of the ENS Louis-Lumière, discusses the image bank created by cinematographer Lawrence Sher, ASC, whose project moved her because in it, she found a response to some of her desires and unanswered questions.