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Suzanne, a widow in her sixties, meets Osmane one evening in Beirut... He is young, black, Sudanese, an undocumented migrant. She is white, Lebanese of Palestinian origin, twice his age... They fall in love. Lebanon is on the brink of disaster. Television news programmes and social media are constantly broadcasting terrifying news. Regardless, Osmane moves in with Suzanne. While their love sparks an outcry, Suzanne and Osmane resist in the midst of the surrounding chaos...
With Hiam Abbass, Amine Benrachid, Shaden Fakih, Charbel Kamel, Alexandre Paulikevitch.
This film almost never got made... and yet today it is in selection at Berlin !
Céline Bozon : Since our first film together with Danielle (Un homme perdu, in 2007), I hadn’t had the opportunity to work with her, and we were very happy to be reunited... When she finally got the green light in 2023, the plan was to shoot at the end of the year in Beirut. Hiam Abbas, who plays Suzanne, was available on those dates, and everything was organised around that. I remember Danielle calling me in a panic to tell me that pre-production on the film had been stopped, in September 2024. But this project was too important for her to give up. So we started thinking about a solution to shoot it no matter what, despite our very limited resources. And that’s when she mentioned the possibility of shooting in a studio, using rear projection. In fact, I had already experimented with this process on a few scenes in Stéphane Batut’s film Vif argent (Burning Ghost, 2019), mainly on car scenes. Danielle remembered this and asked me if we could consider applying this kind of technique to her entire film.
I admit that it was a little crazy at first to consider such a thing, but in order to stay more or less within our actress’s availability dates and fit within the film’s very small budget, we decided to give it a try !
The film was therefore shot entirely in the studio, as the final shot claims...
CB : Filming took place over 21 days in January 2024 at the Montjoie studio in La Plaine-Saint-Denis. Alexandre Massot (Lucarna company) was in charge of supervising the transparency device. At first, we thought we would go with a very frontal approach, two actors and a backdrop, like in the theatre. But then, as we prepared and projected ourselves onto the shots and the space, we realised that this limited the staging too much, so we switched to two 90° screens. All the shots in the film were therefore shot in front of these two translucent screens, each 5m wide and 3.4m high. The connection between the two was made in a very traditional way with white or black gaffer tape, depending on the mood and the shots.
I like to say that we shot the film in 25 square metres, but it’s true !
With incredible mobility in terms of changing sets and effects. We only had 21 days of shooting, but not having to move was a real gain... we could go from a night interior to a daytime tracking shot in minutes... Danielle really liked this mobility, it was as if we had a reserve of plates ; the layers (sets and day/evening/night effects) Indeed she was looking for a way to build the plot with her actors and allow herself some leeway for adaptation, discoveries and changes as the film takes shape. So for several scenes, we changed sets and even lighting effects. For example, the wedding was planned for night-time, but on the morning of the shoot, we decided to switch it to daytime to get brighter colours and a softer atmosphere.
This would obviously have been impossible with natural sets...
What about shooting on LED walls ?
CB : We definitely considered this solution... it was technically appealing and it avoided the problems of vignetting and hot spots in the centre of the projection that almost always arise when you use back projection. But the budget difference between the two options was very significant, and we couldn’t afford it. And then I think Danielle accepted this approach because it was like an handcrafted thing. She also felt that the slightly false or off-kilter perspective and overall rendering would make the film even more abstract or strange, a little suspended in time and space.
As the script itself lent to that...
How did you go about filming the background plates ?
CB : For this pre-shoot (over 10 days in November 2023), we received location photos and chose the sets. To have more precise control over what was being done, we developed a video feedback system via the Internet, which we could consult live from Paris, giving precise instructions to Yves Sehnaoui, the director of photography who was in charge of filming each shot. This allowed me to collaborate with him as much as possible on the choice of angles, heights and focal lengths, as well as on the lighting, especially for the night sequences.
For example, I would ask him to light a particular source of light in the frame, knowing that this would then help me a lot in the studio to use it as a basis for the lighting. Some of the ‘sets’ were completely re-lit, such as the gambling den with slot machines where Osmane works. The red walls that give this place its visual signature were entirely recreated by Yves in Beirut. The real place was extremely pale and dull. In the location photos, there was also a neighbourhood (near the port) lit by the location scout’s car headlights because it was very dark at night, with almost no streetlights... We kept this lighting principle for the layers of this scene. Frontal pars suddenly give the set a strange effect, very Lynchian... Danielle and I called it our “Gregory Crewdson” thing ! In fact, we were looking for a form of artifice and fragility at the same time, the boundary between the two always being delicate. Finally, for the sequence where Osmane walks between the lorries, Danielle directed the extras from a distance and we reproduced the lighting effects (torches) in the studio. All these ideas we had beforehand were very exciting to bring to life on set.
The film is full of colour, it gives a vision of the Lebanese capital almost like a city in Southeast Asia...
CB : Yes, Danielle really wanted to make a very colourful film. With this kind of stylisation of the city, whether by day or by night... the choice of the fabric shop where Suzanne works, for example, is not innocent. We rely on all these colours in the background of the image, and the costumes also follow the same direction. In terms of optics, I equipped the Sony Venice camera and the Rialto module, which I often used on my shoulder, with Leitz Thalia lenses (which I particularly like) and an Angénieux 25-250 HR zoom lens, which was perfect in terms of smoothness and rendering.
We also made extensive use of the Peewee/long focal length (zoom) combination to break up the excessive frontality of the device and make it less sharp and more abstract for certain sequences.
What was the biggest lighting challenge ?
CB : Personally, I really enjoyed the night scenes. Playing with the sources that Yves had filmed in Lebanon, either in a totally documentary style or in a more stylised and controlled way in certain interiors, was very engaging.
For the daytime shots, we did double exposures, which allowed us to bring in the discoveries and make them very present so that you could really feel the city ; I then mixed them in during colour grading before shooting. It would have been much more difficult on the actual sets, as the contrast differences are always too great during the day to have nice views from outside.
I also had a lot of fun with flares on this film. The night-time outdoor sequence in the suburbs of the city, when our protagonist encounters a prostitute, gave me the opportunity to create flares using small coloured LEDs that I held in my hand and which illuminated the filter and the front of the lens. I created the flare directly while framing the shot. Everything was in direct synch with the car headlights, the city lights and everything else that can be in front of the lens as you’re night filming...
The daytime scenes, on the other hand, were much more complicated in terms of lighting.
Two lighting bridges were installed above the playing area for the backlights. And I had a top level. All front lighting was prohibited because we couldn’t re-light the rear-projected image or we would lose all the contrast.
It was obviously a huge lighting headache. I only had two possible directions : backlight and three-quarter backlight, neither side nor front, because of the two 90-degree screens. In fact, there are a few sequences that we did with only one screen. To get back the side lighting axis.
Like for example the travelling shots on the street during the day.
Apart from the pre-lighting with a real team, the film was then shot with very few people. And I would like to thank my team for following me on such an economically fragile project, with François Galou, alone on the grip, and Mathias Sabourdin, alone on the camera.
Augustin Bonnet, my chief electrician, showed great inventiveness with the lighting. That’s the contradiction and the joy of a project like this : we had time to search for the right light. It was as if the creative energy was concentrated in those 25 square metres and not in moving sets, loading trucks, etc. And then the 90° rear projection became more and more familiar to us as the days went by. It was like a space we were getting to know.
What source did you use to project the images onto the screen ?
CB : Alexandre Massot, who was in charge of the rear projection system, projected the plates in 4K using Resolve DaVinci. This allowed him to fine-tune specific colours in real time, and even to create masks and calibrate the background in order to facilitate the transition.
It was really essential. My only slight regret was the absence of a dedicated special effects technician who could have used the SFX tools we currently have to modify the plates even further to adapt them to the needs of the staging and lighting.
I imagine that with the upheavals coming in this field thanks to artificial intelligence tools, it will very soon be a formality to integrate such options for staging.
And the opening credits, with their images of the city intertwining in a very graphic way ?
CB : These credits are built from cutaway shots of the city. They were re-filmed using the transparency device, simply scrolling manually in fast motion on the Resolve timeline. The idea came to me suddenly while Alexandre was looking for a clip on set between two set-ups. The effect is quite magical, neither superimposed nor digitally manipulated... It’s something very analogue, very organic at heart. Perhaps a way of announcing that we won’t be completely realistic in this film...
What do you keep from this unique experience ?
CB : What was exciting was the need to project ourselves very strongly into the image, while at the same time allowing ourselves the luxury of being surprised during filming.
Every staging decision had a huge impact on the image, and it was very motivating to try to anticipate them. As we progressed in the making of the film, we also realised how enriching it could be to be able to change this or that sequence, for example by switching it to night-time or changing the setting. And we did this simply by dipping into our stock of peels and quickly adapting things on set. Even the actors, who were perhaps a little worried at first about filming in a studio in front of two screens, quickly grasped the pleasure of moving almost instantly from one sequence to another, or of playing physically with this strange device. Basically, this film was a huge risk, but from the very first days, I think everyone saw where we were heading visually and how much the whole team was on the same wavelength. In any case, I would like to salute the courage of Danielle and her producers, who accepted this technical challenge and trusted us with the result.
(Interview by François Reumont, on the behalf of the AFC)
Additional information on the rear projection device
Alexandre Massot (Lucarna Imaginarium), gives details about the Only Rebels Win back projection set up
Back Projection is a technique that we have mastered over many years and one that I am particularly fond of. Heir to the great Hollywood classics and perfected over decades, this method has evolved with digital technologies to offer considerably enriched creative possibilities today. It is a process that is still regularly uesd by cinematographers and directors, particularly for scenes inside vehicles such as cars and trains. Or scenes in apartments with background views.
Rear projection retains major advantages that make it the solution of choice for many filming situations. It offers an elegant and effective alternative, specially for productions seeking an organic look and great flexibility of implementation. And does not require the technical and logistical complexity of an LED set.
From our initial discussions with Céline, we decided to use rear projection rather than LED screens, for several key reasons :
Firstly, Céline wanted to shoot as close as possible to the projected sets. 4K projection offers a major advantage : the projected pixels are slightly diffused by the screen itself, allowing for this proximity without creating technical problems. Conversely, with LED screens, moiré patterns quickly appear as soon as the camera gets close.
Other technical considerations also influenced our choice. Projection offers a more organic and cinematic image rendering, and this technique allows us great flexibility in setting up the screens. We can easily adapt their layout according to the shooting angles and easily remove a screen if necessary, which is much more complex with an LED wall.
Finally, the economic aspect is not insignificant, as the cost is significantly lower than that of an LED screen of equivalent size, with a lighter infrastructure and faster installation.
During pre-production, I created 3D simulations to ensure the technical feasibility of this device in all situations envisaged by the script. These visualisations enabled us to anticipate spatial constraints and the connections between screens.
During the filming of the background plates in Lebanon, we paid particular attention to the choice of different camera angles and focal lengths. This attention to shooting parameters was essential to ensure perfect connections and optimal placement of the two screens during the final studio shoot.
Our installation was based on several key elements :
Projection : Two 20,000-lumen 4K laser projectors projecting the plates, P3 colour space onto two 5x3.5m screens, aiming at 90° each other.
Broadcasting : A dedicated station broadcasting the 6K shots filmed in Burano. This station, based on DaVinci Resolve, was specially developed and enhanced to offer a wide range of real-time raw file processing capabilities.
Creative flexibility : This system allowed me to retouch the images directly on set, according to Céline’s artistic directions and the needs of the staging. For example, I added live drop shadows from real furniture (sofa, chest of drawers) placed against the screen on which an apartment wall was projected, initially without shadows. Conversely, during scenes in low light, I recreated a consistent light direction with a real source placed in the set or off-screen. This could also involve retouching the set and, of course, colour grading.
This ability to make adjustments in real time greatly enriched the creative possibilities while maintaining perfect lighting consistency between the projected elements and the real set.
It was a wonderful adventure, technically ambitious and artistically rewarding. We are very pleased that this film was selected for the Berlin Film Festival, a recognition that highlights both the creative work of the team and the technical choices made.
Only Rebels Win
Director : Danielle Arbid
Producers : Omar El Kadi and Nadia Turincev (Easy Riders Films)
Cinematography : Céline Bozon, AFC
