AFC films in festivals

After graduating from the Image department of The Fémis school in 2010, Michaël Capron signs his sixth feature film as director of photography with Mongrel, by Wei Liang Chiang - co-directed by You Qiao Yin -, a film selected for the Director’s Fortnight at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Having previously been on the Croisette, he also served as cinematographer on Vincent Le Port’s film Bruno Reidal, selected for the Critics’ Week in 2021. (Editor’s note)

With The Girl with the Needle, Swedish filmmaker Magnus Von Horn (who studied in Łódź and lives in Warsaw) delves into a harsh depiction of poverty in 1920s Denmark. This frightening black-and-white tale draws parallels with certain aspects and characters (notably the circus scene) from The Elephant Man, David Lynch’s 1980 Gothic monument (photographed by the great cinematographer and director Freddie Francis, BSC). Behind the camera is Michal Dymek, PSC, the young Polish cinematographer (noted for EO, which competed in 2022). He talks to us about black-and-white filmmaking, relative authenticity, and the unforeseen events on set that can sometimes turn into assets for the film... (FR)

After more than 10 years of absence, the filmmaker behind The Godfather and Apocalypse Now returns with an extremely personal project in which he has invested a significant portion of his fortune. This is Megalopolis, a fable aimed at younger generations that reinterprets classical texts from ancient Rome in the context of a futuristic city reminiscent at times of Batman’s Gotham. It is also a family film with many main roles, featuring extensive sets and special effects to immerse the audience in this anticipatory atmosphere. The film is shot by Romanian-born cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr., ASC, a loyal collaborator of the director for nearly 20 years. The film is in Official competition for the 77^th Palme d’Or.

Opening Un Certain Regard competition, Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson’s new film is about grief and lies. The young Icelandic actress and singer Elin Hall plays an ambiguous character, torn between the pain of losing her man and the impossibility of revealing him to others... Swedish cinematographer Sophia Olsson shot the film, which is almost entirely shot in Iceland’s capital, and whose iconic locations will undoubtedly evoke memories for lovers of this timeless city. (FR)

2055: Youtuber Steevy Shady recounts for his followers the tormented passion between Mimi Madamour, a starlet born of a Star Academy-type TV talent show, and Billie, a punk rocker who performs in lesbian clubs, from the early 2000s to 2015, then 2055. From the meteoric rise to the disgrace of each of them successively, this glittering musical comedy draws on flashy pop references and playfully mixes eras and image regimes to paint, under its parodic guise, a most political love story. (HdR)

Vingt Dieux, the first feature film by Louise Courvoisier, a graduate of the first CinéFabrique class, has been selected for Un Certain Regard. At Cannes in 2019, the Cinéfondation had rewarded the director by awarding First Prize to her short film Mano a mano. Cinematographer Elio Balézeaux, who also graduated from the CinéFabrique in 2019 - and who has since worked as cinematographer on documentaries such as Sébastien Lifshitz’s Madame Hoffman - was responsible for bringing Vingt Dieux to life. In the text below, he talks about their work together on the film, which is also his first feature-length fiction.

Part experimental film, part documentary, part fantasy, Camila Beltrán’s Mi Bestia portrays a young girl transitioning from childhood in 1990s Bogotá. Sylvain Verdet shot the images for this first original feature film, having previously collaborated on Beltrán’s short film Pacifico Obscuro four years prior. Mi Bestia has been selected at ACID. (FR)

Josée and I have a "little history", as she likes to remind me, since she was on the jury that validated my diploma at "La Fémis" [French Film School, NDLR]. She followed my early work as a cinematographer in the years that followed, and here we are, eleven years later, on the phone, her shooting in London, me in Paris, talking about her collaboration with Thierry de Peretti. (LB)

Writer, director and photographer Agathe Riedinger, a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD), directed two short films before embarking on the production of her first feature-length film, Diamant Brut. She explores the same themes as in her short films: denouncing the overload of societal norms for women and thus addressing the question of female emancipation. Noé Bach, AFC, worked with the young director to bring this ultra-modern story to life visually. He offers an exhilarating contemporaneity of the framing and texture that meticulously complements the script. Diamant Brut is the only debut film selected for the Official Competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. (BB)

Sophie Fillières’ filming of Agnès Jaoui, who plays Barberie Bichette in Ma vie, ma gueule (This Life of Mine), tells the story of a woman in her mid-fifties. Her loyal collaborator, Emmanuelle Collinot, shot the director’s last film before she died just a few weeks after shooting ended. The pitch of the film "how to deal with oneself, with death, with life in short..." particularly resonates for Ma vie, ma gueule, which opens the 2024 Quinzaine des Cinéastes. (BB)

Following her short film Comment on freine dans une descente? (Golden Lion at Venise in 2006), Angèle et Tony (Cesar for actors Clothilde Hesme and Gregory Gadebois in 2012) and Le Dernier coup de marteau (in selection in 2014), director Alix Delaporte offers the Mostra this year a film based on her own experience as a reporter at the Capa agency. Alice Isaaz plays Gabrielle, a young intern through whose experience viewers discover the life of a television newsroom. Inès Tabarin, AFC, served as the cinematographer on this film in which location plays a primary role. (FR)

Always catching his viewers by surprise, Michel Franco’s latest film is an authentic love story. This improbable romance between two people who have been wounded by life gives Jessica Chastain (Sylvia) and Peter Sarsgaard (Saul) the opportunity to explore two beautiful characters who must face their flaws and their courage. Yves Cape, AFC, has once again (for the fifth time) teamed up with the Mexican director to shoot this independent film in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Memory is in Official Competition for the Golden Lion at the 80^th Annual Mostra de Venise. (FR)

Justine Triet’s (Sybil, Victoria) new film is multidimensional, layer after layer being progressively peeled away as the film progresses. Starting as a family drama involving a Franco-German couple and their visually impaired son, the film evolves around a series of characters, in the context of a high-profile criminal trial. Simon Beaufils created the images for this closed doors thriller, with 2.5 hours divided between a high mountain chalet and a courtroom. Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute) was awarded the 76^th Palme d’or. (FR)

During the 76^th Cannes Film Festival, we have published 32 written interviews (13 are in English, others in French), in which directors of photography speak about their work on the selected movies. Here are the links allowing you to read each of them.

A film about young "ware-wolf" tiger girls? Yes, that’s how Amanda Nell Eu’s Tiger Stripes could be presented. This debut film from Malaysia opened the competition at the Critics’ Week, with great enthusiasm from both its crew and the audience. Its cinematographer Jimmy Gimferrer (Story of My Death - Histoire de ma mort by Albert Serra in 2013) talks to us about it... (FR)

One of Cannes most awaited screening was Sam Levinson’s new mini serie "The Idol". Discovered thanks to his award-winning series "Euphoria", – also produced by HBO – , he decided, for this new project, to tell a story about the heart of show business. Lily Rose Depp plays Jocelyn, an international pop star’s clone - surrounded by a swarm of people, orbiting financially around her.
New York based cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan was chosen by Sam Levinson to boldly begin the series, then handed over the cinematography to Marcell Rev HCA, ASC, who shot both seasons of "Euphoria".

Wacky and offbeat as per usual, Michel Gondry talks about himself in his latest film: a film director, in conflict with his producers, runs off to the Cévennes with the dailies to finish the film. Pierre Niney stars as Marc Becker, Gondry’s clone, alternately irritable and great, trying to finish his film at his old aunt Suzette’s (Francoise Lebrun) home, accompanied by his faithful editor Charlotte (Blanche Gardin) and his scapegoat assistant Sylvia (Frankie Wallach). Laurent Brunet, AFC (French society of Cinematographers) – now a part of the "Gondry family" since working on Microbes and Gasoil – was the cinematographer on this film... (FR)

British director and contemporary artist Steve McQueen presents with Occupied City an atypical film; altogether a tribute, a meditation on memory and archival work. This four hour documentary presented at Cannes draws a parallel between five years of German occupation in Amsterdam (with sound) and contemporary images of the pandemic filmed throughout a three year span. Dutch cinematographer Lennert Hillege, NSC, was in charge of the cinematography, shot on film. (FR)