Next Shot

After several documentaries on the Cambodian genocide, filmmaker Rithy Panh decided to venture into fiction, recreating the true story of journalists who got the only interview with the Khmer Rouge leader in 1978. This ambitious work combines scenes led by a prestigious cast, cutaway shots from archival footage, and long tracking shots of childlike models reminiscent of Michel Gondry’s style. The result is a strange film where naivety blends with historical reconstruction and characters sometimes happened to be on another planet. Aymerick Pilarski, AFC, lensed this show presented in the official Cannes Première selection. (FR)

Xavier Gens’ Sous la Seine has been available on Netflix since early June, and has since risen to become one of the most viewed programs on the platform. Meanwhile, the director, producers and the platform are being sued by another screenwriter who is claiming to have been the victim of plagiarism. This suspenseful film portrays the intrusion of a race of mutant sharks capable of adapting to fresh water and swimming up rivers, and has benefited from the fact that the Olympic Games are being held in Paris this year to generate buzz. Nicolas Massart, AFC, was in charge of the cinematography of this story, with many underwater scenes shot in the large European studio dedicated to this – Lites, in Brussels. (FR)

Selected for Berlinale 2024, Claire Burger’s Langue étrangère (Foreign Language) crosses paths between France and Germany through a first adolescent love story. Julien Poupard, AFC, reunites with the director (with whom he has already shot several films) to bring this story of sensual, amorous and political awakening to life between Leipzig and Strasbourg. The film is in official competition for the 74th Golden Bear. (FR)

The 2024 winner of the Pierre Angénieux Special Encouragement Award is of Estonian origin. She has been based in the USA for 12 years, spending time in China first, just after finishing high school. This was her first experience living abroad, where she studied, learned a bit of the language and shot her first documentary films. Kadri Koop is a curious young woman, with varied experiences around the world, now working between Europe and Hollywood, where she resides and tends to a beautiful vegetable garden under the Californian sun.
She’s here at Cannes to talk to us about images, faces and zoom lenses ! (FR)

Carried by a dazzling cast, with young Mikey Madison in the lead role as a stripper, Sean Baker’s Anora is a captivating film. Its writing is both simple and precise, steering the plot in one direction only to better surprise the audience and ultimately deliver a powerful final scene that is likely to go down in festival history. Shot like great American cinematographers of the 70s used to do (Kodak film, 4-perf Scope, zoom lenses, and negative flashing during shooting), this cinematic tour de force is truly one of the major events of the 77th edition of the Festival. Drew Daniels, who shot the film, explains that nothing replaces the thrill one can experience on such a film as a director of photography, making creative decisions live on set rather than relying solely on modern digital camera & post-production tools. (FR)

After a diversion through England to shoot Firebrand, which was selected for the official competition last year on the Croisette, Karim Aïnouz returns to his homeland to direct Motel Destino, a colourful erotic thriller shot very close to his hometown of Fortaleza, Brazil. It marks the third collaboration between the director and cinematographer Hélène Louvart, AFC, aiming to (re)create the visual universe of an unusual place and to convey the human relationships that take place there, filled with humour and tension. For the second year running, Karim Aïnouz’s work has been selected for the Official Competition, at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. (BB)

Julien Colona’s first feature film, Le Royaume, tells the story of a young girl who discovers her father’s true nature, and tries to love him at all costs. The relationship thus forged resembles a journey of initiation along the roads of the Isle of Beauty. A film with Corsicans, shot in Corsica, by a Corsican filmmaker. With cinematographer Antoine Cormier, we immerse ourselves in the making of this two-faceted thriller. Le Royaume is in the Un Certain Regard Official Selection at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. After three years as a camera assistant, Antoine Cormier went on to light short films, music videos and commercials. His passion : shooting on film. When he met Julien Colonna on a commercial, they shared a passion for doing "well with little". (BB)

A unique blend of Buster Keaton-style silent comedy and vampire film invoking Expressionism, "Sister Midnight" by Karan Kandhari is above all an original female portrait set in the slums of Bombay. Although the director is of Indian origin, he lives and works in England, and his directing style and use of music reveal his distinctly British sense of humor. Here are the secrets behind the making of this strange comedy, whose style alternates between the frenetic and the very calm, reminiscent of the rhythm of a Pixies song. The cinematography is by British-Norwegian director of photography Sverre Sørdal, and the film was shot on Kodak and Panavision.

Adapté du dernier roman éponyme de l’écrivain Pierric Bailly, Le Roman de Jim (paru chez POL en 2021), interroge la paternité en dehors des liens du sang. Le tournage s’est passé entièrement dans le Haut-Jura, dans les décors décrits dans le livre. Ce sont les frères Larrieu, Arnaud et Jean-Marie – le tandem de réalisateurs qui tournent tous leurs films à la montagne, Peindre ou faire l’amour, Tralala…– qui s’emparent de ce mélodrame. Ils font appel à la directrice de la photographie Irina Lubtchansky, AFC, pour signer l’image de cette saga qui s’étale sur 25 ans. Elle nous propose un retour sur cette première collaboration avec deux réalisateurs qui donnent le ton au cinéma d’auteur français. Avec Le Roman de Jim, les frères Larrieu sont de retour au Festival de Cannes 2024, en sélection officielle Cannes Première. (BB)

Shot on the island of Chiloé, in southern Chile, Brujeria is a fantasy film in which history and politics intertwine in an unexpected and very animalistic way. Set in the late 19th century, at a time when European settlers were arriving alongside the newly formed Chilean state, the script depicts the rebellion of a native teenager when her father is unjustly killed by his German employers. 
This is the second feature film by Christopher Murray, a filmmaker whose academic work in anthropology inspired the subject matter. The cinematography is by María Secco, AMC, who is originally from Uruguay but lives and works in Mexico City. We talk to her about the making of this spellbinding story, which has been selected for the "Contemporary World Cinema" section at Camerimage 2023. (FR)

Directed by Laure de Butler ("Syndrome E" for TF1 or "Irrésistible" for Disney), the "37 secondes" series tackles an unsolved mystery dating back to January 15, 2004, the sudden sinking of the trawler "Bugaled Breizh" in international waters south of Lizard Cape. Solidly documented and filmed at the scene of the tragedy, this 6-episode series produced for the Arte Channel has been selected in French competition at this year’s Séries Mania. Benjamin Louet, who shot the images, talks to us about the filming process, where history and fiction coexist intimately. (FR)

Shot over 80 days between November 2023 and April 2024, the new French mini-series on Apple TV+ recreates the Napoleonic era in a project that combines espionage, haute cuisine and politics. At the heart of the story, which evokes a pact with the devil, is an ambitious young chef who quickly achieves fame and success through his connection with Talleyrand. Matias Boucard, AFC, is the director of photography for this series - in association with Éric Dumont, AFC - directed by Martin Bourboulon (The Three Musketeers). Laurent Héritier, as gaffer, took care of the many electrical setups on location around Paris and in the studio in Bry-sur-Marne. Premiering at the Séries Mania Festival, the series will be available on Apple TV+ in late April. (FR)

Directed by Kasia Adamik and Olga Chajdas, the series "Kabul" is a European co-production between France, Belgium, Greece, Germany, and Italy. This ambitious project portrays the evacuation of the Afghan capital during the American withdrawal in 2021. In the great Anglo-Saxon tradition of films recreating major historical events, the series offers a detailed reconstruction of the fall of Kabul. The Polish cinematographer Matteusz Wichlacz, PSC, a long-time collaborator of the two directors, was in charge of filming the entire series. We spoke with him about this spectacular reconstruction of Afghanistan—shot entirely in the suburbs of Athens—and "Kabul"’s participation in the official international competition at Séries Mania. (FR)

With humor, know-how and a disturbing quality, the fake Porsche advertisement “The Pisanos” produced by the Hungarian colorist László Gaál has become in recent days one of the stars of the AI ​​film generation on YouTube. Made entirely on the Google Veo2 engine to which he was able to have early bird access, this little film is featuring almost all the clichés of advertising (Tuscany, smiles, speed, etc.) Disturbing by its quality and especially by its making-off, this second part takes eventually the viewer by surprise when we suddenly learn that everything was (almost) false. Laszlo, who gives himself the pleasure of talking to the camera - in the only shot actually filmed . lends also his voice to the commentary. He talks to us (with his lovely Claude Monet t-shirt) about creation with this new tool. (FR)

Un nouveau produit au catalogue : le Vortex 24 de Creamsource, quatre longs métrages en salles, dont trois photographiés par des membres de l’AFC, deux séries télévision diffusées, dont une photographiée par un membre de l’AFC, sept fictions TV en tournage, ainsi que deux longs métrages photographiés par des membres de l’association.

Lucy Cohen’s first film is a summer portrait of a boy and a girl leaving childhood. Filmed in a village on the Cornish coast, with windswept cliffs, this very sensitive film is based on the relationships and unsaid things between adults and their children. British cinematographer Rachel Clark shot the film. It runs for the Golden Frog (Best image for a first film) at Camerimage 2024. (FR)

Telling the story of a kind of Amélie Poulain with sewing superpowers, Sew Torn is a bit of a UFO in this panorama selection of contemporary cinema. Coming from German-speaking Switzerland, where this film was shot in a peaceful town lost in an idyllic valley. Director of photography Sebastian Klinger comes to talk to us about this shoot where the actress is killed at least three times on screen, and where the influence of the Coen brothers sometimes hovers over the crazy situations and somewhat strange characters. (FR)

Entirely filmed on the small island of Mandø, located on the southwest coast of Denmark, Basque filmmaker Juan Palacios’ documentary is both a tender portrait of its inhabitants and a testimony to life continuing against all odds in the face of rising sea levels and climate change. Shot in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio by the director himself, the film resolutely oscillates between a documentary approach in its content and a highly cinematic stylization in its form. We revisit with him this exploit, which took several years, spanning from the pandemic to the initial interactions with the locals, the filming, and the finalization of the film. This documentary is in competition for the Golden Frog award for Best Cinematography in Toruń.