
“I’ve Never Prepped a Movie So Many Times.”: DP Christopher Aoun, All That’s Left of You

Taking place in 1948, 1978, 1988 and 2022, All That’s Left of You traces the history of a fictional Palestinian family in flashback after a confrontation at a West Bank protest. All That’s Left of You is the third feature of director Cherien Dabris, whose Amreeka and May in the Summer played Sundance in 2009 and 2013, respectively.
Christopher Aoun (Capernaum) served as the film’s cinematographer. Below, he talks about how he distinguished the film’s four timelines and the difficulties of prepping the film from scratch after the crew was forced out of the West Bank in the aftermath of October 7, 2023.
See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here.
Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job?
Aoun: I felt an immediate connection to the script and thought it was something the world really needed to see because Cherien [Dabis, director] is addressing a very important topic in a way I hadn’t seen before. It tells this very important story in such a humane way, without assigning blame, which I feel the world really needs right now—to heal instead of creating more wounds.
In our first conversations, we quickly realized that we shared the same artistic vision, in terms of look, feel and overall realism for the film. As a person who is part of a diaspora, I also connected very personally in a way that was pretty unique to this project. It allowed me to get a better understanding of my own country, Lebanon, and its tumultuous history in the Middle East.
Filmmaker: What were your artistic goals for this film, and how did you realize them? How did you want your cinematography to enhance the film’s storytelling and treatment of its characters?
Aoun: The film takes place in four different time periods (1948, 1978, 1988, and 2022) and my goal was to be able to give each era a distinct feel, character and perspective while carrying the same soul throughout the film. I wanted to experiment very subtly with this without creating a visible rupture that would be conscious to the audience.
Filmmaker: Were there any specific influences on your cinematography, whether they be other films, or visual art, or photography, or something else?
Aoun: Cherien, Bashar (production designer) and I were looking at a lot of archives, historic images and documents from Palestine and the Levant region in the 1940s to understand what it must have felt like back then. We also watched a lot of documentaries from that era. Overall, just being in the West Bank in general during prep was incredibly inspiring. I would often walk, talk to people, listen to stories, visit thrift stores or galleries and find inspiration in the most unexpected little things. In terms of other films, it’s not so much a direct reference, but while we were prepping, Past Lives came out in cinemas, and we found that it had many elements that were spiritually inspiring to us in a way. However, after we evacuated to Jordan and Cyprus, it became increasingly difficult to stay inspired having to witness how the situation in Gaza got worse and worse.
Filmmaker: What were the biggest challenges posed by production to those goals?
Aoun: We had to evacuate out of the West Bank shortly after the horrific events of October 7th, 2023, which meant that we not only lost a lot of our sets and locations but also a big part of the crew, who weren’t allowed to leave. We didn’t know if or how the film could still happen under these circumstances but had to keep believing that we were somehow going to make it happen, even if it meant moving to new places constantly and scouting locations repeatedly. I’ve never prepped a movie so many times.
But of course, losing locations for a film is nothing compared to losing your own life, so I think the toughest challenge was suddenly realizing that the story we were telling was happening again in front of the whole world’s eyes, and yet no one would act—as if the whole world was numb. This triggered a lot in me in terms of questioning the importance of cinema, especially in those times. So, I think, in a way, we all felt that we needed to bring some humanity, by creating a film that could speak to everyone and at least try to reduce the schism between people.
Filmmaker: What camera did you shoot on? Why did you choose the camera that you did? What lenses did you use?
Aoun: We shot on the Arri Alexa 35. After testing a variety of lenses, we decided to go for the Hawk V-Lite 2x anamorphic glass for the nostalgic feeling they give. I feel that those lenses have a particular beauty with a certain poetic melancholy that both Cherien and I felt we needed to highlight the narration of memory, remembering the past together with the narrator. Initially, we had planned on using spherical lenses for 2022 but after testing felt it was too distracting to have such a drastic change. It was also great to work on the Alexa 35 given the large amount of hard sun and high-contrast situations we had.
Filmmaker: Describe your approach to lighting.
Aoun: I would describe the approach as very naturalistic overall, maybe drawing a little more attention to itself in 1948 for a slightly more poetic feel that becomes dirtier and harsher,as the story continues. When we get to 2022, I wanted it to feel very clear and sober, even harsh.
Filmmaker: What was the most difficult scene to realize and why? And how did you do it?
Aoun: It’s hard for me to pick a specific scene because I think in general the challenge was to make a historic film on a limited budget while keeping visual and emotional continuity throughout all these new and different locations after we were forced out of the West Bank.
Filmmaker: Finally, describe the finishing of the film. How much of your look was “baked in” versus realized in the DI?
Aoun: Marina Starke, an incredible colorist I first collaborated with on the first season of the Emmy- winning Netflix show The Empress, created a show LUT that I fell in love with and used throughout the shoot. Initially, we didn’t want to change the look between each time period, but during post, we started experimenting with subtle changes and incorporated a few variations to slightly distinguish the different times in the film.
TECH BOX
Film Title: All That’s Left of You
Camera: Arri Alexa 35
Lenses: Hawk V-Lite 2x anamorphic
Lighting: Arri HMIs, Skypanels, Vortex, K-flectors, CRLS reflectors
Color Grading: Marina Starke, The Post Republic, DaVinci Resolve