AFC-related activities

Alain Marcoen, SBC, studied at the IAD Brussels, but not being very attracted to the pressures a camera assistant has to face, he preferred to start out as a lighting technician. Getting some work on documentaries and drama, he met Jean-Claude Riga for whom he started to operate.
Being from Liège, he quickly got accustomed to shooting films that deal with the social problems of large steel city. In collaboration with operator Benoît Dervaux, another long time crew member of the Dardenne brothers, they signed for the photography of all their films since La Promesse.

After having worked his way up as a lighting technician, Glynn Speeckaert divided his career as a DoP on feature films and numerous international commercials. Based for some time now in the US , he has a filmography of English, German or French films. After having replaced Yorick Le Saux to shoot A l’origine for Xavier Giannoli, it is Radu Mihaileanu who calls upon his talents this time to shoot La Source des femmes (The Source), his second film in the official competition at Cannes.

For the past twenty years, Christophe Beaucarne has been working on features steadily, collaborating with many directors, including Bruno Podalydès, Cedric Klapish, Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Jaco Van Dormael... So it was fitting to see his cinematography credit on not one but two films at Cannes this year: Outside the Law, by Rachid Bouchareb and On Tour, by Mathieu Amalric.

Laurent Brunet, who has photographed all of Raphael Nadjari’s films (including Tehilim, selected at Cannes in 2007), has a lot of experience filming abroad. But he didn’t know Africa, which he discovered while collaborating for the first time with Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, the only African to compete at Cannes 2010, with his fourth feature film, A Screaming Man. The original title was A Screaming Man is not a Dancing Bear a quote from The Notebook, Returning Home by the poet Aimé Césaire.

For the past few months, we - the officers and initiators of "active dialogues" - have been struck by the accuracy and depth of the contributions to these " active dialogues" between members of the AFC. We now choose to give room to one of them, whose distance from us, both in terms of experience and geography, allows him to understand that our concerns should push us to share tirelessly, in order to build a future for our profession.

Following is an excerpt contributed by Philippe Rousselot, AFC, ASC to these " active dialogues".

During the last Cannes Festival, the AFC published a series of interviews on its website of cinematographers with films in one of the selections.
On the occasion of the first screenings of The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke, the Palme d’Or winner for the Festival’s 62^nd edition, we published an interview with the Austrian cinematographer Christian Berger, AAC, where he discusses his work on the film, and a lighting system that he helped develop.

Eric Guichard: Yves Cape, hello. Two films that you’ve photographed were in competition at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. Let’s talk about both films, but perhaps we can begin by talking about the one by Patrice Chereau.

You spoke to me about doing tests with the Red, but you ended up shooting in 35 mm. When did you decide to do these tests in Red and why the final choice of 35 mm?
}}Yves Cape: During one of my first encounters with Patrice Chereau, he discussed the possibility of making a film in HD without being specific. He wanted to know if I was up for it. Without hesitation, my answer was yes. Once it was established that I was doing the film, Patrice told me his idea: he had documented one of his plays with the Red and had been surprised by the quality. He wanted to explore that option to see what it could bring from an aesthetic and an economic standpoint.

As it does each year, the Cannes Film Festival will make the film planet go round at 300 miles per hour. There are no speed limits in Cannes... Films of great directors and other unknown ones will be screened in the best possible conditions (which is not true of all the festivals), films whose modes of production techniques are increasingly hybrid : both photochemical and digital, as much in production as in post.

As Veronique Cayla (director of the French National Cinema Center) pointed out during her 2009 new year greeting, there is still as much money for film as ever.
But today the "sources" where producers seek funding for their films have multiplied: TV channels, regions, Sofica, tax credits, etc. This brings together non-converging co-producers, each protecting their own investment and the film can easily deviate from its original draft. But in no way does this multiplication imply a lack of money.
How is it then that our work tools have become so degraded?

In British Cinematographer, March 2009

As a little light from the camera tests I visited the AFC Micro Salon at the beginning of February, which was a delightful experience. I must say it was small but perfectly formed.
Held at La Femis, the Film School, not only were eminent cinematographers there but students which added to the "buzz", and gave the whole place a feeling of great energy.

The IMAGO (European Federation of Cinematographers) Annual General Assembly (IAGA), organized with talent by our colleagues of the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC), was held from the 13^th to the 15^th of February 2009 at the British National Media Museum in Bradford, a charming UNESCO world heritage “cinematographic” town of West Yorshire, England.
AFC was represented by President Remy Chevrin, Robert Alazraki IMAGO Board Member and Richard Andry.
After an introducing welcome from IMAGO President Nigel Walters, BSC, the Assembly discussed numerous points (25 in the agenda) of more or less importance.

Willy Stassen, President, and members of the Society of Belgian Cinematographers where invited by the AFC, as Imago members, to the 2009 edition of Micro Salon at La fémis Cinema School in Paris last February 6 and 7^th.
Willy Stassen and Louis-Philippe Capelle sent thanks to the AFC for this invitation.

For our Latvian friends, please read the Latvian version of AFC Image Charter.

ATTĒLA HARTA
1. Termina „kinooperators” definīcija.
2. Projekta izpēte kopā ar režisoru un producentu.
3. Darba plūsmas saskaņošana.
4. Filmas attēla veidotāju komandas izveide.
5. Testi un ražošana.
6. Montāža un pēcapstrāde.

For its ninth year, the Micro Salon hosted by the AFC will be once again held at the Femis School in the 18^th district of Paris.
First novelty: unlike previous years, the Salon will take place over two days, on Friday February 6^th, from 10AM to 8PM and on Saturday February 7^th, from 10AM to 5PM.
Another innovation: the AFC will organize two panel discussions on Saturday morning in the Jean Renoir screening room of the Femis.
To highlight the artistic as well as the technical aspects of custom-made shooting tools, there will be a panel presentation with film excerpts by members of the crew of Oceans, the upcoming huge film project directed by Jacques Cluzaud and Jacques Perrin.
Also, this year the AFC has decided to open the Micro Salon to Europe, and to present European directors of photography by inviting our sister Belgian association, the SBC, to whom we give carte blanche.

To make your visit easier during the two days of the Micro Salon, click below to get a listing of all the companies – all associate members of the AFC – who are exhibitors this year, as well as a schedule of the screenings.
Note that, as usual, the basement level of the Fémis will be reserved for companies presenting grip and lighting equipment, the ground floor for those with camera equipment and 2^nd floor for film manufacturers, post-production companies and, of course, the screenings.
Also remember that one of the novelties of the Micro Salon this year, will be two panel discussions with AFC guests on Saturday morning.

As announced last month new AFC member Crystel Fournier is introduced here by her sponsors, first Charlie Van Damme and then Benedict Chamaillard.

"Inspiration!", the seminar organized by Imago, the European Federation of directors of photography, was held in Copenhagen (Denmark) from October 31 to November 2, 2008.
First, let me express my warmest thanks to the Imago team, its chairman Nigel Walters, BSC, Jan Weincke, president of the DDF, Andreas Fischer-Hansen, DDF, Paul Rene Roestad, FNF and Tina Sorensen, head to the National Film School of Denmark, who welcomed all the participants. The team organized this seminar in a seamless and, above all, friendly fashion, with a theme, entitled "Inspiration", which was far from easy to develop.

It is with great pleasure that the AFC welcomes Angénieux as a new associate member. With a strong tradition that cinematographers have long valued, this French company, owned in recent years by the Thales group, has developed products that have been respected by directors of the photography for more than a century of cinema.