Aymerick Pilarski discusses his work on “Öndög”, shot in Mongolia, and directed by Quan’an Wang

15 octobre 2020 - Modifié le 29/04 Contre-Champ AFC n°312

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Aymerick Pilarski has had an unusual career. Because he was passionate about the cinema and he wanted to discover other cultures, he decided to study in Beijing rather than in France. This young cinematographer decided to leave for Asia nearly 15 years ago, where he learned Chinese and has been following in the footsteps of Christopher Doyle, a legend in cinematography. (FR)

He didn’t start off with the ambition of having an international career, but the boom in Chinese productions in the 2010s led him to settle in China and have provided him with a resumé full of a great variety of films.

He is now based between Beijing, Bangkok, Paris and London. He just signed off on a strange Chinese film that was entirely filmed on location on the Mongolian steppes : Öndög, released in France on 19 August. While he was on a visit to Paris, Aymerick Pilarski had a discussion with us about the Asian approach to shooting a film, long takes at -35°C, and a cult love scene near a camel…

Directed by Quan’an Wang, this film has already been awarded at several festivals :
- Nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2019
- Golden Montgolfière at the Festival des 3 Continents at Nantes
- Best Film at the Ghent Film Festival
- Best Film at the Valladolid International Film Festival
- Best Cinematographer at the Valladolid International Film Festival.