Cinematographers
Interviews - Cinematographers
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“To Shoot on the 48th Floor is a DP’s Nightmare”: DP Charlotte Bruus Christensen on Sharper
Set in a shadowy world of scam artists and grifters, Sharper follows four characters through interlocking stories set in a modern-day noir version of New York City. From Park Avenue penthouses to abandoned warehouses, director Benjamin Caron builds a dangerous world filled with betrayals and double-crosses. Justice Smith plays Tom, manager of a used bookstore. A chance meeting with Sandra (Briana Middleton) leads to Max (Sebastian Stan), a self-professed con man. Max will encounter Madeline Phillips (Julianne Moore), a wealthy widow with designs on corporate titan Richard Hobbes (John Lithgow). Sharper is the feature debut for Caron, best known for his […]
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Ghostface Takes Brooklyn: DP Brett Jutkiewicz on Scream VI
In 1989, Friday the 13th transplanted its hockey-masked slasher from summer camp to concrete jungle for the franchise’s eighth installment, Jason Takes Manhattan. That titular promise was not fully delivered upon: Manhattan was mostly Vancouver and Jason spent much of the running time on a boat full of high schoolers traveling to the city. The newest Scream offers up a similar relocation as Ghostface follows the previous chapter’s survivors from Woodsboro to college. Again, a Canadian city (this time Montreal) stands in for New York. But this time, the killer actually spends the entire running time chasing his victims through […]
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“I Would’ve Shot the Telephone Directory of New York If Todd Had Asked Me To”: DP Florian Hoffmeister on TÁR
According to cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister, writer/director Todd Field often expressed his desired aesthetic for TÁR in a series of repeated Field-isms: Let’s just witness. Don’t gild the lily. Don’t make it look like a movie with a capital “M.” In other words, make the style invisible. However, Hoffmeister’s work was far from invisible to his peers, who bestowed an Oscar nomination upon the German DP for his work on the film. TÁR—Field’s first feature in more than 15 years—follows the downfall of a composer/conductor played by Cate Blanchett as she prepares a career-capping performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic. […]
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“… A 7mm Difference Between Lenses is Actually Quite a Huge Amount…”: DP James Friend on All Quiet on the Western Front
War is young men dying and old men talking. The former lies at the heart of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1928 novel All Quiet on the Western Front, based on the German writer’s experiences in the trenches of World War I. In Netflix’s new adaptation, the latter half of that axiom is also represented with the addition of a subplot centered on the armistice negotiations that ultimately ended fighting on the Western Front. As in Remarque’s novel, the story is principally told through the eyes of Paul Bäumer, a teenager who—propelled by patriotic fervor—enlists alongside his schoolmates only to be disillusioned […]
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“Anamorphic’s Biggest Fan”: DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Upon release in 2018, the first Black Panther became the highest grossing standalone super hero movie in history, while achieving a lasting cultural relevance exceedingly rare even among the box office juggernauts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But with the passing of Chadwick Boseman, the actor behind the titular hero, maintaining the status quo in the sequel was an impossibility. For Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the story’s throughline became grief and the narrative center shifted from Boseman’s T’Challa to his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett, who received an Oscar nomination for the part). That new focus […]
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“Everything Looks Better if You Throw Some Dirt and Blood on It”: Robbie Banfitch on The Outwaters
Microbudget independent horror is certainly having a moment. Kyle Edward Ball’s experimental haunted house flick Skinamarink has grossed $2 million to date on a $15,000 budget, and 17-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons will turn his lo-fi viral series The Backrooms into a feature film for A24. Similarly reinvigorating a long-reliable medium for first-time horror filmmakers, Robbie Banfitch’s found footage gem The Outwaters defies genre expectations while showing seasoned gore hounds exactly what they want to see (and perhaps a few things they’ll probably wish they hadn’t). The film’s writer, director, cinematographer, editor and producer, Banfitch also stars as Robbie Zagorac, the camera-wielding […]
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“An Escape to the Coolest Boho Pad on the Beach”: DP Tim Cragg on The Deepest Breath
Italian freediver Alessia Zecchini and Irish safety diver Stephen Keenan set their sights on the famous Blue Hole located 184 feet below the Red Sea in The Deepest Breath from documentary filmmaker Laura McGann. Hell-bent on breaking a new world record, Alessia trains to make the seemingly impossible oceanic descent by holding one single breath without the aid of any scuba gear. Cinematographer Tim Cragg discusses his artistic vision on the shoot, which also featured technological complications. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your […]
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“The Alexa Has a Wonderful Creaminess to Its Capture”: DP Scott Miller on A Little Prayer
In writer-director Angus MacLachlan’s A Little Prayer, a father-son relationship becomes strained when family patriarch Bill (David Strathairn) discovers that his son David (Will Pullen) is cheating on his wife Tammy (Jane Levy). While attempting to guide David back onto the path of monogamy, he realizes that his own bad habits might have unintentionally been passed down to his son. DP Scott Miller tells Filmmaker about the shoot, including his affinity for the Alexa Mini on this project. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of […]
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“I Was Basically Operating as a One Man Band”: DP Nelson Walker on Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV
Seminal video artist Nam June Paik and his extensive roster of iconic collaborators are the subject of Amanda Kim’s documentary Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV. Utilizing archival footage and interviews with Paik’s contemporaries, the film also features Steven Yeun reading excerpts from Paik’s journals and artistic statements to bring the revolutionary creative to life anew. Cinematographer Nelson Walker discusses how he approached lensing the project, which began remotely due to COVID protocols. 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 […]
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“The Freedom To Find My Own Way Through Such a Personal Story”: Director-DP-Editor Sierra Urich on Joonam
In her personal documentary film Joonam, director, editor and DP Sierra Urich attempts to make sense of her complicated identity as an Iranian-American. Growing up in Vermont, the culture and homeland of her mother and grandmother has never been truly known to her—only through stories, cuisine and holidays has she been able to connect with her Iranian heritage. Particularly with the current political climate of Iran, the prospect of visiting seems all the more impossible. Urich briefly discusses shooting and editing her feature debut, touching on how instrumental supervising editor Maya Daisy Hawke was during the process. See all responses […]
