Introducing cinematographer Noé Bach, who has just joined the AFC

By Patrick Blossier, AFC, and Jeanne Lapoirie, AFC

Cinematographer Noé Bach was recently admitted as an active member of the AFC. Here, he is introduced by his AFC sponsors, Patrick Blossier and Jeanne Lapoirie, in the words each used when they tabled and supported his application for membership.

Noé Bach is someone who needs to communicate and share, by Patrick Blossier, AFC
I met Noé Bach in 2014 when he graduated La Fémis’ Image Department.
I was drawn in by his enthusiasm and his passion for cinematography. We became friendly and I was interested in keeping abreast of his career.
Noé was never an assistant. Rather, he preferred to train himself by making short films (over forty) or combining diverse experiences such as being gaffer on Jeune femme, by Léonor Seraille (Caméra d’or 2017).
To date, he has shot eight features, including Just Kids by Christophe Blanc, Les Enfants d’Isadora by Damien Manivel (Leopard for best director at Locarno 2019), Les Amours d’Anaïs, by Charline Bourgeois-Taquet (Critics’ week 2021), La Terre des hommes, by Naël Marandin (Critics’ Week 2020) and Une femme du monde, by Cécile Ducrocq. He just wrapped up four episodes of a Canal+ series directed by Danielle Arbid and is currently preparing for Mona Achache’s upcoming film.
In all of the films Noé has shot, the image is never conventional and is always very much in line with the project itself. What I like about his work is that I can feel how closely he listens to the directors and that he doesn’t use a single recipe. Each film is very different but I can also identify a personal and unique touch, like a watermark in each film.
Because he was never an assistant, Noé hasn’t met many cinematographers and he now feels the need to communicate and share with them.

Noé Bach, a talented person joining the AFC for fruitful discussions, by Jeanne Lapoirie, AFC
I met Noé through La Fémis, eight years ago. He had asked for my advice about his thesis project, which was on the theme of chance in the work of a cinematographer on a fiction film. How can chance be provoked and accepted, how can it be the bringer of inventiveness and a renewal in the way one films. He also took on the notion of inspiration in the creation of a film’s visuals, such as how one finds the idea for a particular scene.
The association between cinematography and chance on set has always been very dear to me, and so I was immediately interested in Noé’s thinking.
Later, I saw Christophe Blanc’s film Just Kids and I was truly seduced by its visuals, particularly on the night scenes, where the artistic positions were quite daring, and one could feel a great sensitivity in his gaze. When I went to find out who had directed the photography, I saw that it was Noé, and this was his first feature film as DoP !
He has now been a cinematographer for over four years. He often works with Serge Antony, a colorist whom I, too, often work with, and who has also spoken highly to me about his visuals.
Since, he has shot Les Amours d’Anaïs, Une femme du monde, La Terre des hommes and Les Enfants d’Isadora. He has just wrapped up shooting on his first series "66.5" directed by Danielle Arbid for Canal+.
I think he is a person of talent that I will be happy to see as an AFC member and with whom discussions will be most fruitful.

(Translated from French by A. Baron-Raiffe)