Gilles Porte, AFC, and Samuel Lahu, his Assistant Cameraman, are currently shooting in Jordan. They have agreed to send us two images extracted from the daily photographic journal they are keeping during the shooting of the film 3000 Nights, directed by Mai Masri. Have a look of their first week of work.
Dead Sea
Samuel, the Focus Puller, and Kéké, the Location Manager... (Gilles, Monday 2 June)
Waterline
Dead Sea, we’re floating in overly salty water. The shooting diary is taking a funny turn… (Samuel, Monday 2 June)
Poor bonsai !
Ossama, the executive producer, discretely shows me the photo of a red flower that he has just sent using his mobile to his wife, director Anne Marie Jacir, who decided to prolong her stay in Europe following the Cannes Film Festival. Beneath his desk, I noticed a sickly-looking bonsai… (Gilles, Sunday 1 June)
D Day
Shooting has now been delayed by two weeks. (Samuel, Sunday 1 June)
The production office strangely empty
I pay a visit to the producers… It’s strangely empty… I am told that the team has been asked to stop work for a few days in order to find another actress to play the role of Laval : she will have to be present for all 33 days of filming. (Gilles, Saturday 31 May)
Zarqa
The situation is becoming complicated, the lead actress is being replaced, shooting has been delayed by a week. I’ve repatriated the camera to the production offices. (Samuel, Saturday 31 May)
Day trip to Beyrouth
Amman Airport, 11:55 PM… I am taking a day trip from Amman to Beirut to meet with Mahmoud and Ken of the Postoffice Laboratory. None of us has ever worked with the Sony F55 before… (Gilles, Friday 30 May)
Amman
Jebel Al Weibdeh, day off, view from the flat, before hitting the city on foot. (Samuel, Friday 30 May)
Make-up tests
“Nesrine Falleh, the lead actress of 3000 Nights with whom we won’t be filming… We were supposed to start in 2 days ! (Gilles, Thursday 29 May)
Zarqa
Test photo for the colour temperature of the street lamps, nobody noticed the black cat. (Samuel, Thursday 29 May)
Nada and her Mac
Nada, 2d Assistant Director, is waiting before transferring her office and her Mac to the location where we’re shooting, 30 minutes outside Amman… We still haven’t finalized our shooting schedule… We’ve still got it planned out over a period of 35 days, but the producers are asking us to condense it into 34 days… The screenplay is still being finalized and we’re only 5 days away from the beginning of shooting. (Gilles, Wenesday 28 May)
Zarqa
This is a prison in a military camp that was used as a set for Zero Dark Thirty. For them, it was an indeterminate Arabic place, for us, it’s Israel… We’re preparing the equipment under the scorching hot sun. Photogram (Samuel, Wednesday 28 May)
Carlo died during the night between Sunday and Monday
Cinematographer Carlo Varini, AFC, passed away in an accident during the night between Sunday and Monday… I was his assistant when I was just starting out in the profession… I paid my respects to the man to whom I owe a great deal by leaving a flashing light bulb on in the prison where we’re about to begin filming… Then Samuel showed up…” (Gilles, Tuesday 27 May)
Paris-Amman
This time the camera made the trip before I did, but I am travelling to Jordan with a pregnant woman’s belly in my suitcase. (Samuel, Tuesday 27 May)
When Hélène Louvart, AFC, called me in mid-April to ask whether I was free in June and July to fill in for her in Jordan on a film that she wasn’t able to work on, I admitted to her that I knew nothing about that country, despite the fact that I am not a total stranger to filming in Arab countries***. After reading the screenplay and a few long discussions with Mai Masri, the director, as well as the various producers — Philistine Films (Jordan), Nour Productions (Lebanon), and Les Films d’Ici (France) —, I was engaged (I think I could also say “I engaged myself…”) to work on the film 3000 Nights with permission to bring Samuel Lahu along with the rest of my luggage… Samuel is my assistant, and a bit more, too… He has already been with me to 25 different countries… As soon as he arrived in Amman on 27 May, Samuel and I decided to each take a photo per day until we got back to Paris. We would each use a different camera : a 35mm for Samuel and a 50mm for me ! We would always include a few comments with each photo… We decided we would be allowed to crop the images, choose between a horizontal or vertical format, colour or black-and-white, and to change the lens from time to time : our photo of the day could also be taken with our iPhones (that we would always have with us) or be a photogram from the film, which is being shot with a Sony F55 and Zeis Compact Prime lenses…
Gilles Porte
*** Two films in Tunisia, one in Egypt, and another in Morocco.
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