AFC-related activities

The expertise of France’s technical industries and technicians working in the film, audiovisual and animation industries is world class and one of our country’s key assets. Every year the ’Paris Images Trade Show’ is a highlight of the events calendar aimed at showcasing this dynamic industry - a creator of many highly skilled jobs - to industry professionals from all over the world. The event is an initiative by seven well-known organisations, all of which share the same ambition to promote French technical talents: the AFC, the Ile de France Film Commission, the IDIFF, L’Industrie du rêve, the CST, the FICAM and Film France.

3 directors, 22 cinematographers, 20 industry partners and representatives attended the events hosted by Cameflex-AFC at the Amiens International Film Festival between 11-15 November 2013.

Eight films were in competition this year, and two received an award. First prize went to Harmony Lessons by Emir Baigazin (Kazakhstan) for a very strong first movie portraying a secretive and awkward adolescent from a poor, hardscrabble, rural background who is confronted with bullying and violence from both the little chieftains and the semi-military authority structure of his middle school.

The 33^rd Amiens International Film Festival, in partnership with the AFC, has for the second year in a row hosted "Caméflex Amiens", an event dedicated to cinematographers, from 11-15 November 2013. Denis Lenoir, AFC, ASC, was honoured with a retrospective on nine of his films and a Master Class. Fabien Gaffez, Festival’s Artistic Director, speaks about Denis Lenoir’s work.

The “Inspiration Cinematographers Forum” was held in Vienna (Austria) from 18-20 October 2013. Imago’s Master Class Committee invited me to Vienna to be the moderator of one of the Master Classes in the 2013 “Inspiration” session.

The first time I met Jean-Pierre Jeunet to discuss his new film, he immediately told me that he was looking for someone who could help him evolve his taste for coloured and contrasted images. I was delighted to work inside of his universe which I love and which was an inspiration for I, Cesar, A Butterfly Kiss, and Les Tribulations d’une caissière.

For his first project filmed inside the Cité du cinéma, Luc Besson decided to make an adaptation of Tonino Benacquista’s novel depicting a reformed New York ‘godfather’ forced to live under a false identity in the Normandy countryside. A mix of comedy and film noir that is largely carried by the presence of a cast that would make even the largest Hollywood studios jealous (Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, and Michelle Pfeiffer). Here, along with Thierry Arbogst, AFC, who regularly works alongside Besson, we take a look at this film’s approach to visuals and filming in studio. (FR)

During its last meeting before the summer, the Board of Directors of the AFC decided to admit Director of Photography Sébastien Buchmann to the ranks of its active members. Having begun his career in the mid 90s, he has since frequented the likes of Céline Bozon, Nathalie Durand, and Eric Gautier, amongst others, and has had a parallel career as a cameraman on short, medium, and feature-length films. We bid him a warm welcome.

Sébastien and I have repeatedly crossed paths over the last dozen or so years. We both relayed working on movies by young directors like Jean-Charles Fitoussi, Antoine Fumat, Sandrine Rinaldi, and Claire Doyon. Then finally we even shared work a few films where shooting was spread out over a couple of seasons, such as Horezon, by Pascal Bodet, or The Queen of Hearts, by Valérie Donzelli.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity of working with Sébastien at the beginning of my career as a director of photography. It was a great luxury to have him as my assistant. Serious in his approach to the job but while always displaying a great sense of humour, he is always a pleasure to have on the team.

During one of its last meeting, the Board of Directors of the AFC decided to induct director of photography Kika Noëlie Ungaro, AIC, as the newest active member of our association. Michel Abramowicz, one of her two AFC sponsors, introduces her below. We all wish to Kika the warmest welcome.

Jean-Marie Dreujou, AFC, has been a faithful partner to Jean-Jacques Annaud since they worked together on Two Brothers. He is responsible for the cinematography of eight films by Patrice Leconte (including Girl on the Bridge, which was nominated for the César Award for best Cinematography in 2000). Today, writer, director and poet Alejandro Jodorowski has entrusted him with the camera on his latest movie, The Dance of Reality, an autobiographical film he directed on the eve of his eighty-third spring.

Since The Beat that my Heart Skipped, for which he was awarded the César Award for Best Cinematography in 2006, Stéphane Fontaine has worked on Jacques Audiard’s films and received a second César Award for A Prophet. He has once again joined forces with Arnaud Desplechin, ten years after working together on In the Company of Men, for a film shot in the USA entitled Jimmy P., which was nominated in the Official Selection at Cannes 2013.

Tom Erisman, NSC, is a Dutch cinematographer who received his cinema training during his work as a gaffer between 1976 and 1987. After his shift to filming, he was behind the photography on a number of television series and films in the Netherlands. Amongst the directors with whom he has worked is Alex Van Warmerdam, with whom he worked in the past on The Northerners in 1992 (2^nd unit) and more recently on The Last Days of Emma Blank in 2009. Borgman is his latest film. (FR).

The three-time Oscar nominee (Amélie Poulain,A Very Long Engagement and the sixth Harry Potter movie), Bruno Delbonnel, AFC, ASC, recently filmed Dark Shadows, by Tim Burton and Faust by Alexander Skouras. Joel et Ethan Coen called on him to visually recreate 1960’s New York for the set of Inside Llewyn Davis

Following our General Assembly’s meeting on 30 March 2013, a Board Meeting was held on 25 April in order to elect the administrators of the association:
Matthieu Poirot-Delpech, Michel Abramowicz et Rémy Chevrin have been re-elected to the Presidency of the AFC.

Howard Preston is the founder of the company that bears his name and that manufacturers the world’s most widely used professional focus and lens control systems. Another high-profile manufacturer for the cinema industry, Jacques Delacoux, CEO of Transvideo, took advantage of Howard Preston’s attendance at the 13^th Micro Salon to have an animated discussion with him.

Imago’s Annual General Assembly (IAGA), 2013 edition, was hosted by our Belgian friends of the SBC on 15-16 February. It kept its promises and allowed us to travel from Brussels to Mons with the help of the Bureau d’Accueil de Tournage Cinéma (Movie Shooting Welcome Office) of the Province of Hainaut.