Michael Ballhaus
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Michael Ballhaus on Framing and Arguing with Fassbinder on The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
In this fascinating short interview released by The Criterion Collection, legendary D.P. Michael Ballhaus discusses working with Rainer Werner Fassbinder on one of the director’s best films, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. After talking about how Fassbinder didn’t like to shotlist, Ballhaus describes one particularly difficult move and the director’s reaction when it wasn’t done just the way he wanted it. And even if Ballhaus weren’t an erudite interview, the clips alone here would be worth watching. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant is now out in standard def and Blu Ray from Criterion.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2015 -
“It is a Long Journey”: DPs Emre Erkmen and Wojciech Staroń in Conversation
Cinematographers are the best whores in the world. Christopher Doyle, the award-winning Australian cinematographer behind In the Mood for Love and Hero, sincerely believed this. He echoed this thought to Michael Ballhaus, the German cinematographer who shot Goodfellas and Gangs of New York, when the two met at a panel in Berlin. (Ballhaus agreed.) Several such anecdotes and beliefs on the art of photography were revealed when Turkish cinematographer Emre Erkmen hosted Wojciech Staroń, his Polish counterpart, for a conversation at the 33rd Istanbul Film Festival earlier this year. Staroń recently worked on Papusza, a black-and-white Polish biopic about the […]
by Laya Maheshwari on Jun 19, 2014
