Darius Khondji, AFC, ASC, is collaborating with Woody Allen for the fifth time on Irrational Man, an official Out of Competition selection at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. _ Having most recently worked on several period pictures—James Gray’s The Immigrant, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris and Magic in the Moonlight, and The Devil You Know, a pilot for a series directed by Gus Van Sant—Darius admits finding great pleasure in returning to a contemporary universe.
Christophe Beaucarne, AFC, SBC, works with loyal directors who call upon his talent to make most of their films. The list of these directors, from very different worlds – including the Larrieu brothers, Anne Fontaine, Bruno Podalydès, Mathieu Amalric –, recently grew with the addition of the name of Christophe Gans. The work of Christophe Beaucarne on Beauty and the Beast was nominated for the 2015 César awards. After Mr. Nobody, The Brand New Testament, a film by Jaco Van Dormael, was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, the opportunity for Christophe Beaucarne to make his second film with his Belgian compatriot.
Roger Deakins, BSC, ASC, is not just a legendary cameraman. He is a cinema aficionado who constantly pursues his visual research with great simplicity and enthusiasm. Although he hasn’t been awarded a golden statue in his over thirty-year-long career (despite his twelve nominations!), his close collaboration with the Cohen brothers has had a lasting impact on multiple generations of cameramen. After working with Denis Villeneuve on Prisoners two years ago, he is worked alongside him again on Sicario, one of the favorites to win the Palm d’Or at Cannes this year.
Belgian cinematographer Benoît Debie, SBC, recently worked with Wim Wenders on Every Thing Will Be Fine and with Ryan Gosling on Lost River. Now a fixture in Gaspar Noé’s world after having filmed Irreversible and Enter the Void, Benoît Debie is once again working with the director on Love, a film that has sparked lots of discussion on the “Croisette” at Cannes. This 3D sexual melodrama tells the story of a torrid love affair that contains all sorts of promises, games, and excesses, was selected for the 68th Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight Screening.
Following the announcement of the films selected for the Official Selection at the 68th Annual Cannes Film Festival, the Parallel Selections— the Directors’ Fortnight, the International Critics’ Week, and the ACID – have now announced the list of films that they have selected. The cinematography of three of the selected films was done by members of the AFC.
The 68th Annual Cannes Film Festival will take place from 13-24 May 2014. At the usual press conference, Pierre Lescure, President of the Festival, and Thierry Frémaux, its Director General, announced the choice of seventeen feature-length films that will be In Competition for the Palme d’Or, fourteen films selected for “Un Certain Regard”, and thirteen films that will be screened “Hors Compétition”, during the Midnight Screenings and the Special Screenings. Amongst the films chosen for the Official Selection and parallel selections, seven were filmed by Members of the AFC.
Niels Thastum, DFF, is a Danish cinematographer who graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in Copenhagen in 2009. He works on documentaries, advertisements, and music videos, notably alongside photographer-director Casper Balslev. When Animals Dream is his first experience working on a feature-length film, directed by his fellow Dane, director Jonas Alexander Arnby. (FR)
Mikhail Krichman, RGC, is a Russian cinematographer who was “discovered” via his work with his fellow Russian, director Andrei Zvyagintsev. Since their first project, The Return, in 2003, they have also filmed The Banishment (2008) and Elena (2012) together. With Leviathan, which was chosen for the Official Competition in Cannes, they have created a social and political drama filmed in the furthest northwestern reaches of Russia, in a little village on the banks of the Barents Sea. A man whose government wants to deprive him of his lands decides to fight back… (FR)
The Cannes Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography Tribute honors the career of a Director of Photography. In 2013 the first tribute was presented to Philippe Rousselot, AFC,ASC. The 2014 edition paid homage to another figure of international cinema, Vilmos Zsigmond, HSC, ASC.
Alain Marcoen, SBC, and camera operator Benoît Dervaux form the team that is the backbone of the Dardenne Brothers’ films. With the release of Two Days, One Night — their most minimalistic film yet in terms of the screenplay, yet also perhaps their most visually elaborate — the chief operator from Liege shares with us what it is like to work with the Brothers. (FR)
André Turpin is a director of photography, filmmaker and scriptwriter from Quebec. In 1995 he produces his first film, Zigrail, followed by Cosmos, a year later. In 2002 he receives the Jutra Award and the Genie Award for the best production, the best script and the best photographic direction for his third feature film, Un crabe dans la tête (Soft Shell Man).
After the international success of The Artist (first screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011), Michel Hazanavicius has once again joined forces with Thomas Langmann, Bérénice Bejo and Guillaume Schiffman, AFC, for a movie that takes place during the war in Chechnya. The subject is somewhere between current events and history at a time when Russian pressure is once again being exerted on the former territories of the Soviet Empire... This dual interview was conducted during colour timing on the film The Search. (FR)
For The Homesman, his second film as a director, American actor Tommy Lee Jones enjoyed being in the great outdoors that are so dear to his heart. We remember his film Three Burials, which won Best Screenplay in 2005. This new Western offers Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC, another opportunity to film the American West. (FR)
A fan of the universe of Gaspar Noë, star Ryan Gosling has availed himself of the services of Benoît Debie, SBC, to create the visuals on his first, strange feature-length film that oscillates between social fable and fantasy story. "Lost River" is one of the most anticipated films in the “Un certain regard” selection this year at the 67th Cannes Film Festival. (FR)
Josée Deshaies, who we have already met to discuss Before I Forget, by Jacques Nolot, Heartbeat Detector, by Nicolas Klotz, Rebecca H., by Lodge Kerrigan, and House of Tolerance, by Bertrand Bonello, discusses Saint Laurent, which is in the official competition at Cannes this year. This is Bertrand Bonello’s sixth feature film; she has contributed to every single one. (BB)
Christophe Beaucarne has been working for over twenty years with very different directors on films with very different visual worlds. He has worked with the Larrieu brothers on Un homme, un vrai and Peindre ou faire l’amour, and with Anne Fontaine on Coco Before Chanel and Perfect Mother, with Jaco Van Dormael on Mr. Nobody, and recently with Christophe Gans on Beauty and the Beast. With The Blue Room, the fourth feature film by Mathieu Amalric, competing in the Un Certain Regard section, Christophe Beaucarne is once again working with Amalric, following their collaborations on Stade de Wimbledon and Tournée. Adapted from the eponymous novel by Georges Simenon, Mathieu Amalric plays the lead role alongside Léa Drucker. (BB)
The AFC will once again be present at the Festival de Cannes thanks in the first place to the movies filmed by its member cinematographers, who have been chosen for the Official Selection (In Competition, Out of Competition, and Un Certain Regard) and for the Parallel Sections. This year, twelve "AFC” films will be screened in one or the other of these selections.
The 67th Cannes Film Festival takes place from May 14 to 25, 2014. At the customary press conference, Thierry Fremaux, General Delegate of the festival, had announced the selection of eighteen feature films vying for the Palme d’Or, and nineteen selected for “Un Certain Regard”. Among the films that are part of the official selection, nine of them were filmed by eight of the AFC’s members.
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