AFC’s Conversations

While for many the name Slawomir Idziak, PSC remains associated with the visuals of his compatriot Kristof Kieslowski’s 1993 film Three Colours: Blue, the Polish cinematographer has since enjoyed a distinguished international career (alongside Andrew Niccol on Gattaca, Ridley Scott on Black Hawk Down, and David Yates on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). He now returns to the forefront of the Cannes scene with A Tale of Love and Darkness, Israeli actress Natalie Portman’s highly anticipated adaptation of the eponymous novel by Amos Oz. (FR)

After the international success of Blue Ruin in 2013, a great revenge movie that was self-produced, directed, and filmed by cinematographer and director Jeremy Saulnier, Cannes is about to discover the world premier of Green Room, his latest thriller. This story, which portrays a group of Punks and its involvement with a gang of Skinheads, is highly anticipated at the Directors’ Fortnight. American cinematographer Sean Porter is responsible for the film’s visuals.

Cinematographer Luca Bigazzi and Paolo Sorrentino together form one of the most successful tandems in Italian cinema today. Winners of over sixty awards, including the Oscar for Best Foreign Film with The Great Beauty in 2014 – which, although it was screened at Cannes in 2013, was ignored by the jury – the two men meet again this year at Cannes with their movie La giovinezza (Youth). This film portrays two octogenarians played by Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel and was shot between Switzerland and Italy. (FR)

Yves Cape, AFC, SBC, became known as a cinematographer by filming Humanité, directed by Bruno Dumont. He then continued to work with the director all the way through Outside Satan. He has also worked with Claire Denis, Martin Provost, Cédric Khan, Guillaume Nicloux, and designed the lighting on Patrice Chéreau’s latest film, Persecution. (BB)

If Danish cinematographer Kasper Tuxen’s resume is above all filled with prestigious advertising credits (Louis Vuitton featuring David Bowie, Hennessy, BMW…), he has also already lit two feature films (Beginners by Mike Mills and M. Blash’s The Wait). After first working with director Gus Van Sant on a television series (Boss), he is currently responsible for the images of The Sea of Trees, a mysterious forest tale of survival in which Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey rubs shoulders with the most American of Japanese actors, Ken Watanabe.

After Roger Deakins, Ed Lachman is without a doubt the second most legendary cinematographer in competition at Cannes. The director of photography and director, a native of New Jersey, will be joining his friend Todd Haynes in offering us a film that stands somewhat apart from the rest of those that make up the cinematic landscape of 2015. A film shot in Super 16, recreating the New York of the 1940s, and reuniting Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. We took this opportunity to have him share his love of film with us.

Darius Khondji, AFC, ASC, is collaborating with Woody Allen for the fifth time on Irrational Man, an official Out of Competition selection at the 68^th 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 68^th Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight Screening.

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)

After working on a gangster movie written by Nick Cave, a biblical movie based on a story by Oscar Wilde, and a spy movie based on a story by John le Carré, Benoît Delhomme, AFC, just filmed the biopic dedicated to the life of Stephen Hawking and his romance with his first wife, Jane. A film by James Marsh, a British director of documentaries who received an Oscar in 2007 for Man on Wire. (F.R.)

Looking back at the beginnings of his career and his education, Phedon Papamichael admits that he didn’t attend a cinema school. “I was originally a photographer, and I learned to make movies on the job, by filming lots of short films using the Éclair 16 camera that I owned at the time.” Bit by bit, he went from short films to feature-length films under the guidance of Roger Corman of Concorde Pictures, for whom, beginning in 1989, he signed off on a number of low-budget B series films produced in a fortnight. At that time, he began to work with a number of his future colleagues, Raphel Sanchez, who was a key grip and later became a gaffer, Wally Pfister, who is one of his sparks, and Janusz Kaminski, who was also working as a gaffer at that time.

In a filmed interview, cinematographer Michael Seresin, BSC, discusses his philosophy and his passion for lighting, he mentions the advantages of Cameraimage’s diversity, continues with his experiences on shooting a film in digital. He misses film…, the most important thing is to tell a story.

In a filmed interview, cinematographer Nancy Schreiber discusses her experience at Cameraimage, her concerns regarding the increased accessibility of the profession and the loss of craftsmanship that this has engendered. She ends the interview with her fears regarding the loss of control over the integrity of the image from its production to the final version.

Starring Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Eileen Atkins, French release: 22 October 2014.
Magic in the Moonlight: the witching hour, spiritualism, and flying mattresses. Director of photography Darius Khondji, AFC, ASC discusses his fourth film with Woody Allen.

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)

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)