AFC’s Conversations

Jeanne Lapoirie

Interview with Jeanne Lapoirie, AFC, about her work on "La Fracture" by Catherine Corsini

Set at the beginning of the “Yellow Vest” crisis in France, La Fracture, by Catherine Corsini, provides a behind-the-scenes look at the emergency room at the Hôpital Lariboisière in Paris. This is also a choral film, where a couple of women in the middle of a breakup cross paths with a truck driver injured by a riot police bullet and a public hospital nurse in the middle of a night of social upheaval. This retelling of a recent event is even more striking after the public health crisis which had a very hard impact on the French hospital system. Jeanne Lapoirie, AFC, was responsible for the film’s image. She has worked with the director on four films to date. (FR)
Jeanne Lapoirie
Jeanne Lapoirie

Cinematographer Jeanne Lapoirie, AFC, discusses her work on Robin Campillo’s film “120 Beats per Minute”

The career of cinematographer Jeanne Lapoirie, AFC, has been shaped by her relations with very different directors, from Téchiné to Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Ozon to des Pallières, and Israeli directors Ronit and Sholmi Elkabetz. She designed the lighting on the first two films by Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet’s set designer and editor. Her first feature-length film, The Returned, was made into an eponymous television series that has become a legend in both France and the United States. After directing Eastern Boy, Robin Campillo made his début at Cannes in the official competition with 120 Beats per Minute. (BB)
Philippe Le Sourd

Interview with Cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd, AFC, about his work on Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled”
"Moonlight in Louisiana"

For her latest feature-length film, American director Sofia Coppola decided to make an adaptation of Tomas Cullinan’s novel The Beguiled, which tells the story of an enemy soldier’s unexpectedly imposing himself on a boarding school for young girls in the middle of the American Civil War. A remake (but not quite) of the earlier adaptation by Don Siegel in 1971 starring Clint Eastwood in the role of the soldier. For the new version, women are given the primary emphasis and make up a prestigious casting around the character of John Mac Burney (Colin Farrell). Philippe Le Sourd, AFC, was director of photography for this Louisiana-filmed movie. (FR)
Denis Lenoir

Interview with Denis Lenoir, AFC, ASC, ASK, about "Bergman Island", by Mia Hansen-Løve
The Solstices of Farö, by François Reumont, for the AFC

Bergman Island is the seventh film by director Mia Hansen-Løve. This trip for cinephiles’ only location is the Island of Farö, where the Swedish master lived, filmed and has rested since his death in 2007. A pilgrimage portrayed on screen by the couple Tim Roth and Vicky Krieps; playing a couple of filmmakers that can only echo the one the director once formed with Olivier Assayas. Denis Lenoir, AFC, ASC, ASK, the faithful companion of both, discusses the particularities of this Scandinavian summer film with us. (FR)
Nicolas Loir

Nicolas Loir, AFC, discusses the filming of "Novembre", by Cédric Jimenez
Fear Stalks the City

After several projects about crime stories in Marseilles (La French, Bac Nord), director Cédric Jimenez decided to seize on a global news story: the hunt for the terrorist mastermind responsible for the Parisian attacks of November 13, 2015. Bringing together a star-studded cast, headed by Jean Dujardin (also in La French), this adaptation of the event, written by Olivier Demangel, immediately begins immersing viewers in the workings of the SDAT (Anti-Terrorist Subdivision of the French Police). This team’s methods and goals sometimes evoke those of the DGSI (French equivalent of the FBI), popularized by the series "Bureau"... To illustrate this race against time, Nicolas Loir, AFC, had to come up with a very flexible approach to filming, with two cameras, or even more, to capture these very intense moments during which national history is being made with each passing minute. (FR)
Hélène Louvart

Hélène Louvart, AFC, discusses shooting of "Murina" by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic

Cinematographer Hélène Louvart, AFC has worked with many French and foreign directors since the 1990s. With Murina, she has created the photography for Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s first feature film. This film has been selected in the Directors’ Fortnight at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival. (BB)
Hélène Louvart

Cinematographer Hélène Louvart, AFC, discusses her work on Karim Ainouz’ film “La Vie invisible”

Hélène Louvart, AFC, signed off on the image of La Vie invisible, a Brazilian film presented at Un Certain Regard 2019. A story of two sisters that takes place from the 1950s to the present time. She tells us about her working relationship with Karim Ainouz, the director, and about their shared ambition to dare to create striking visual universes, and about how they learned to modulate that ambition so as to avoid being above the story and the characters, visually speaking. (FR)
Irina Lubtchansky

A Tandem in Roubaix
Interview with cinematographer Irina Lubtchansky about her work on "Roubaix, une lumière", a film by Arnaud Desplechin

The story of fidelity between Arnaud Desplechin and Irina Lubtchansky is being written here with their fourth collaboration on Roubaix, une lumière, which is in Official Competition at Cannes this year. The cinematographer recently finished work on the image of L’Homme fidèle, by Louis Garrel, and Julie Bertuccelli’s La Dernière folie de Claire Darling. (BB)
Irina Lubtchansky
Pedro Luque

Pedro Luque, SCU, and director Juan Antonio Bayona look back on the stressful shooting of "The Society of the Snow"
"Alone in the world", by François Reumont for the AFC

In competition for the first time at Camerimage, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and the Amazon series "Lord of the Rings") and his Uruguayan cinematographer Pedro Luque answered the audience’s questions after the screening of his new film, The Society of the Snow. (FR)