Venice 2024: How 41 Cinematographers Shot Their Festival Films

‘Aïcha’

Category: Horizons
Format: Arriraw encoded HDE – Open Gate 3.4K – Format  2.39:1 cropped into the OpenGate – 24 FpS
Camera: ALEXA Mini
Lens: Panaspeed Set  T:1.4  with 2 extra lenses from Ultra Speed set:  35 mm T:1.3 & 50 mm T:1

Antoine Heberlé: It’s my second film with Mehdi. The first one was ‘A Son,’ also at the Mostra in 2019. The subjects and Mehdi’s styles are very realistic. He wants to shoot with only a handled camera in order to get an organic feel, or uses unsecured framing sometimes, as in running after the action. I know the ALEXA Mini perfectly and its viewfinder, so I can control my image staying close to the action (in front and around the camera). I love to operate and light at the same time, and I don’t want to spend time running to the monitoring to check the light. Joined to a LUT prepared after tests, the ALEXA Mini is my tool. I used Panaspeed sets that are both precise and gentle at the faces as landscapes. I tested them with an ALEXA LF, but we finally decided to let the large format down and keep the lenses to make my framing job easier with the camera on the shoulder most of the time. I added 2 very light lenses from the Ultra Speed set that matches perfectly with the Panaspeed. I used to shoot at 1600 ISO, getting a nice texture in the low lights and protecting my hight lights for the outside shots.

‘And Their Children After Them’

Category: Competition
Format: Sony XOCN
Camera: Sony Venice
Lens: Master prime anamorphic

Augustin Barbaroux: We chose the Venice because of its versatility. I’ve shot many features and commercials with it. Master prime was used because we preferred to shoot in an anamorphic way and keep a really good optical precision. It was important for us because with the color grader we used many tools to create smooth detail in the color and in the texture. Directors really wanted to use this combination because they loved what they saw during our preparation test.

‘April’

Category: Competition
Format: 35mm 
Camera: ARRICAM LT
Lens: ARRI Master Prime 18mm

Arseni Khachaturan: Our aim was to create a tactile experience for the audience. We really wanted to see the world through the eyes of our main character and also experience it. When we were scouting for the film, Dea and I would drive across the region where the film was shot: Highways, through endless fields, village roads… we saw the vast beauty of the place where Nina lives and where she performs clandestine abortions. We wanted to bring the viewers very close to this world.

When working with Dea, we usually like to shoot most or the entire film — with just one lens. This constraint, or a rule, that we establish for ourselves helps to commit to a certain point of view, very specific perspective that we craft throughout the film. We decided to mainly work with natural light. All the night scenes are shot in blue hour. Exteriors in the film consist of shots of bright days and blue nights. The lenses we chose, Master Primes, were good for this reason, as they are fast and allowed us to really push the exposure to the limit without any need for additional lighting.

This helped to achieve stark contrast between days and nights — as Nina is constantly on the move traveling to the homes of her patients or cruising the streets at night looking to pick up strangers for intimate encounters.

‘L’attachement’

Category: Horizons
Camera: Red Raptor
Lens: Leitz Summilux Prime Lenses

Elin Kirschfink: Sandra, a fiercely independent woman in her 50s, suddenly shares the intimacy of her next-door neighbor and his two children after the death of their mother. Against all odds, she gradually becomes attached to this adopted family. As this is a story about a woman’s death and family upheaval, Carine Tardieu didn’t want the image to clash with the context.

The first scenes in the apartment are relatively austere, and the scene in which Alex, the father, tells Elliot about his mother’s disappearance is a rather sad gray dawn. Without contradicting this initial premise, I felt it was important to add a little warmth in the moments when Elliot befriends his neighbor Sandra. I wanted a modern image with a soft touch on the faces, which we worked on both by filtering at the shoot and in post-production with colorist Mathilde Delacroix.

Tests on the frame format highlighted 1.66, which I rediscovered and really appreciated on this project. We shot with handheld camera and slider, not to especially direct the film in motion, but to be more reactive in our positioning in relation to the children.

‘Bestiari Erbari Lapidari’

Category: Out of Competition
Format: 2K
Camera: ARRI Amira
Lens: Old Cooke and Leica

Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti: High quality and the great aspect and resolution of the images. 

‘Carissa’

Category: Horizons
Format: XAVC-I 4K
Camera: Sony FX9
Lens: Zeiss Super Speeds

Gary Kotzé: We wanted the look of “Carissa” to be grounded in the naturalistic beauty of the Cederberg area in South Africa. This meant often working with or supplementing available light that truthfully represented the space. The sensitivity of the FX9’s dual base was useful to really push the dusk, dawn, and night looks with authenticity and without overlighting.

Since we were working with many non-professional actors, we also needed a camera with the flexibility to capture and adapt to their performances – and very quickly create considered frames in a documentary style. The package also had to be light enough to trek up mountains, through veld and rooibos fields, and get to all the difficult-to-access locations.

The Super Speeds are fast and have a wonderful quality to them, which, with a light strength diffusion filter, took the digital edge off and helped us to capture slightly elevated, organic images. Shooting these Super 35 lenses with a full-frame sensor and then extracting a 4:3 aspect ratio gave us all the interesting, vintage textures on the edges of the glass. 1.33 is a beautiful ratio for framing singles on people, and since the film needed to be told largely through the eyes of Carissa, it helped us create frames that reflected that.

‘Cloud’

Category: Out of Competition
Format: XAVC UHD
Camera: Sony F55
Lens: Schneider Xenon FF-Primes

Yasuyuki Sasaki: The reason I chose these tools was due to budget constraints. It is an old camera from 10 years ago, and its latitude may be somewhat inferior to that of the latest models, but it is not a major issue. What is important for the film is the lighting and the exploration of filmic shooting methods. It is entirely feasible to achieve this with a camera that has a 13-stop latitude, basic set prime lenses, and a dolly for moving shots.

We were instructed by the director on how to narrate the story using the language of images, and this was accomplished through the effective use of simple equipment. Everyday scenes transformed into devices that narrated the film, as director Kurosawa moved the actors extensively and complexly within the space, positioned the camera to capture them in a three-dimensional manner, and added movements that traversed the space. Lighting created shadows, and darkness was treated as a crucial element for controlling absence and presence.

‘Diciannove’

Category: Horizons
Format: 35mm
Camera: ARRICAM LT 3perf
Lens: Suprime prime t 1.5 

Massimiliano Kuveiller: The Supreme Prime T 1.5 lenses were the perfect choice for our film. These lenses allowed us to achieve very sharp and clear images, capturing even the most subtle nuances of emotions in each scene. The large T 1.5 aperture was particularly useful in low-light conditions, helping to create an intimate and evocative atmosphere that reflected the character’s inner world.

The lenses maintained consistent quality in all shots, from close-ups that highlighted the protagonist’s expressions to wider angles that situated the character within the environment, ensuring a uniform and coherent look throughout the film. This made it easier to visually connect the scenes in a natural and fluid way.

Additionally, the Supreme Prime lenses offered natural color rendering and minimized distortion, giving the film a realistic yet elegant appearance. This visual quality enhanced the emotional impact of the story, making it more engaging. The Supreme Prime T 1.5 lenses provided the quality and flexibility needed to effectively tell the story in a visually captivating way.

‘Familia’

Category: Horizons
Format: ARRIRAW 4K and 3.2K 
Camera: ALEXA Mini LF 
Lens: Signature Prime and Cooke Speed Panchro FF

Giuseppe Maio: I chose what I did because the movie is set in two periods: 1998 and 2008. In 1998 and for the “dreamy” scene, I used ALEXA in Large format because we were talking about something that was removed, and we want to represent a trauma. This format allowed the frame to have a better stylization and “unnatural” perspective compared to 2008, where I used the ALEXA in S 35 sensor and the look was more naturalistic.

‘Familiar Touch’

Category: Horizons
Format: ProRes 4444XQ 3.2k framed for 1.66
Camera: ARRI Amira, ALEXA Mini
Lens: Panavision Primo Primes

Gabe C. Elder: “Familiar Touch” was shot on location in collaboration with older adults in a continuing care community who performed alongside our professional cast. In designing our visual approach, Sarah and I, along with our production designer Stephanie Osin Cohen, wanted to honor the reality of that space while shaping it to serve our cinematic intentions. That meant having a nimble production with a small footprint.

The Amira was an easy choice for its simplicity and reliability. I’ve used it extensively in my documentary work and I wanted to operate a camera I was familiar with. That became especially important for handheld work. The Panavision Primos were an early favorite in our lens tests. They stood out for their uncanny ability to replicate the subtleties of human eyesight. The fall-off is deliberate, but without extracting a subject from their environment. They also hold contrast extremely well, which was essential for our real-world locations. With the exception of some more expressionistic moments, we shot without optical diffusion to preserve everything we loved about the Primos.

Lighting Designer Cedric Cheung-Lau and Key Grip Danny Green were indispensable resources, leveraging a small lighting package to great effect in locations that presented countless logistical and rigging challenges. In keeping with the spirit of molded naturalism, our work with colorist Ben Federman embraced the best qualities of the digital format and followed through on the choices we made on set.

‘Happy Holidays’

Category: Horizons
Format: 3.2K ProRes 422HQ and RAW
Camera: ALEXA Mini 
Lens: Angenieux EZ1 Zoom Lens

Tim Kuhn: Scandar Coptis’ unique approach to filmmaking had a big impact on how “Happy Holidays” was shot. Before shooting, he went through a long process with non-actors where he helped them fully embody their roles, making them feel like the characters were extensions of their personalities. It was mandatory to keep an authentic feel to the world we created. We avoided anything that might make it seem like a film set. We didn’t use traditional film lights or even a boom microphone and worked with a very small crew.

The movie was filmed chronologically, using two handheld cameras that closely followed the characters. We captured moments as they naturally happened. A dinner scene was filmed during an actual dinner, which could take up to four hours. This method made each take unique and impossible to recreate. The cast reacted spontaneously to events without knowing the script or plot details. Their reactions guided us through the scenes.

Since we had to rely on our instincts and film for long hours nonstop, we needed a setup that was easy to operate, reliable, and lightweight. At the same time, we wanted the film to look cinematic, with pleasing skin tones and a muted color palette. So we had to get as many information to postproduction as possible. It was also important to be able to film long takes and change the focal length easily.

After a lot of testing, we chose the ALEXA Mini and the lightweight, fast Angenieux EZ Zoom lens. The Mini’s small size and dynamic range gave us the flexibility to handle scenes that were always changing due to performance, lighting, and contrast. This setup, along with light fixtures hidden in the location, gave us the flexibility we needed in postproduction. We aimed for the look of 35mm film, focusing on the complexity of the characters’ skin tones to reflect their emotions and state of mind. This level of detail wouldn’t have been possible without the ALEXA.

I loved embracing this adventure, finding ways to keep the film authentic, almost like real life for the cast, and still resulting in a cinematic experience. It was challenging but incredibly rewarding.

‘Happyend’

Category: Horizons
Format: 8K X-OCN ST
Camera: Sony Venice 2
Lens: Rehoused Minolta Rokkor, Angenieux 36-435mm

Bill Kirstein: We shot primarily on rehoused Minolta Rokkors at 8K 3200 iso. Neo and I talked a lot about approaching this film as a memory of the future – how we might look back on formative events long after they’ve occurred. We tested quite a few lens and filter combinations along with a range of different LUTs that colorist Tim Masick made for the project. We settled on the Rokkors for their vintage qualities, color rendition, and dimensionality. They were sharp without being clinical between T4-T8, which is where we wanted to be for our depth of field. The combination of older glass with the newest sensor technology allowed us to create images that supported the story’s near-future setting while still feeling slightly out of time, like a memory. In a significant coincidence, we were shooting primarily in Kobe, Japan, near Mount Rokko — the same mountain that could be seen from the window of the factory where the lenses were manufactured. It felt right to bring the lenses home.

‘Harvest’

Category: Competition
Format: Super 16mm Kodak 200T
Camera: ARRIFLEX 416
Lens: ARR-Optex 4mm, -ARRI/Zeiss Ultra 16 Primes 9.5mm to 18mm, -ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Prime 20mm to 85mm, -Canon 7-63mm Zoom S16 -Canon 11-165mm S16 Zoom S16 

Sean Price Williams: The film takes place some centuries ago. I couldn’t really see the period as electric and digital. Plus, the Scottish land and sky calls for film, and I wanted the darkness of night to really go dark.

‘Joker: Folie á Deux’

Category: Competition
Format:5.5k ARRIRAW
Camera: ALEXA 65, ALEXA Mini LF, Sony Venice 2, Red Komodo
Lens: Ottoblads, Leica R, Nikkor, Canon CP2

Lawrence Sher: The most important thing for “Joker: Folie á Deux” is to have complete flexibility and freedom for the actors. We rarely rehearse and often shoot masters that travel from wide shots into extreme closeups in single takes with real-time improvisational camerawork. Because of that, we designed our lens list based not only on vintage lenses that fit the 1980s time period but also close focus, lightweight, and fast lenses that supported this unique filmmaking style. 

‘King Ivory’

Category: Horizons Extra
Format: Pro Res 4444XQ Log C4
Camera: ALEXA 35
Lens: Zero Optik Leica R

Will Stone: “King Ivory” is an intimate and personal story of the perverse effects of fentanyl from five unique perspectives. Having been affected directly by fentanyl and the dangers of addiction, this film is very personal for my friend and collaborator, director John Swab. We decided that we needed to make the film feel as coarse, abrasive, and ever-present as the drug itself in our society. It became very important to the language of the film to be observational, and to not preempt anything that our characters do not know about.

The ALEXA 35 became our tool of choice with its versatility in dynamic range as well as the ability to embed textures into the image. Along with the ALEXA 35, we wanted to find the set of lenses best suited to capture both the intimate moments and the intense action. We needed to be quick on our feet, and would need lenses that function well at wider apertures while still having character. After a lot of testing, John and I decided rehoused Leica R’s were the best fit. We liked that the lenses still retain a sharpness to them and add good contrast to the image, while still having the desired imperfections from vintage lenses that we could choose to amplify with aperture choices when we saw fit. Paired together, the ALEXA 35 with G522 Soft Nostalgic texture and Zero Optik Leica R’s we were able to photograph the film in an approach that remained authentic to the story and its characters.

‘Love’

Category: Competition
Format: 4.3 K ProRes
Camera: ARRI LF 
Lens: Mamiya

Cecilie Semec: “Love” is shot on the ARRI LF. The director Dag Johan Haugerud and I looked at quite a few musicals in the prep for “Love.” I remember the two of us going to the cinematheque in Oslo watching a 70mm print of “South Pacific” (1958). I also looked at Cuarón’s “Roma” (2018). I really enjoy how the large format camera captures both the tiniest detail and all of the surroundings — the format feels both epic and intimate. It’s almost like the camera tells the story in itself. And perhaps also the pace of the editing naturally slows down because there is so much to look at in the frame. ARRI Large Format was the closest we could get to that 70mm feeling on our budget.

We tested quite a few lenses in prep and ended up with the vintage, rehoused Mamyia lenses. I was lucky enough to get one of the main actors to be in front of the camera for these tests. I remember how the face of Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen just popped when I put the 50mm Mamyia on the camera. The Mamyia lenses have some obscure characteristics, but I really do love them with all their “faults.”

‘Maldoror’

Category: Out of Competition
Format: ARRIRAW 2.8K
Camera: ALEXA Mini
Lens: Gecko Zeiss Mark 2

Manu Dacosse: First, this lens are very light, and most of the movie was handheld. I loved the old glass and they are very soft. That was the right look for the movie.

‘Marco’

Category: Horizons
Format: Digital 4K 
Camera: ALEXA 35
Lens: Atlas Orion

Javier Agirre Erauso: This film is about lying. The choice of lenses and aspect ratio was a way to “trick” the viewer away from the classic biopic.

‘Maria’

Category: Competition
Format: 35mm Kodak color 50D/5203 , 250D/5207, 500T/5219 Negative 16mm 250D/7207, and 500T/7219 35mm Black and White double-X 5222 negative Super 8mm 50D/7203, 500T/7219
Camera: ARRICAM 3perf, ARRIFLEX 416, Kodak Super 8 Camera, Classic Pro 8
Lens: The Ultra Baltars, Cooke S4 Primes, Super 8 6-66mm Schneider Zoom Lens, Angenieux 8-64 Zoom Lens.

Ed Lachman, ASC: The film explores the life of Maria Callas, and the scenes of her past are shot in black and white Negative with the Ultra Baltars, which was glass used over 70 years ago in “Magnificent Ambersons,” parts of “Citizen Kane,” and “Touch of Evil,” which I also used on “El Conde” with Pablo Larraín. The Baltars have a six-element design and early single-layer coatings that contributed to the period look that we were looking for due to the film taking place from over 80 to 47 years ago; I wanted the look of the film to be affected by the glass that created images in films at that time.

I also used the Baltar glass in the later color period used in the film for the ’60s and ’70s, depicting the scenes in her life. The Cooke S4 primes were used primarily in the evening scenes where I needed more stop. 16mm film with an Aaton LTR and 416 ARRI cameras were used for the film crew that we see in the movie who are investigating Maria’s life. The Super 8 camera and lenses were used as Maria Callas’ home movies for the private moments of the people that were closest to her.

‘Mistress Dispeller’

Category: Horizons
Format: 3.2K Arri ProRes
Camera: ALEXA Mini
Lens: DZO Film Pictor Zoom Lenses 

Elizabeth Lo: We shot on the ALEXA Mini because we wanted to elevate domestic spaces and the stories that take place within homes with its uniquely lush color palette — to seduce and draw viewers into even the most mundane aspects of our protagonists’ lives.

We chose to shoot on DZO Pictor Zoom lenses because they are lightweight cinema zoom lenses that allowed us to remain flexible as we traveled across China, while still creating beautiful images. Because of the delicate subject matter of “Mistress Dispeller,” it was important for us to not interrupt the flow of scenes as they unfolded in front of our camera, and the DZO cinema lenses allowed us to easily attach a slow zoom system to them — enabling us to elegantly achieve different compositions from the same camera position without changing lenses.

‘The Mohican’

Category: Horizons
Format: ARRIRAW 4K
Camera: ALEXA 35
Lens: Optimo zoom 28-76 and 45-120 plus sumilux primary lenses

Jeanne Lapoirie: I chose the ALEXA 35 because I always shoot with the ARRI ALEXA and I like the look of theses cameras; they’re more organic for me, closer than the 35mm look. The new ALEXA 35 is also very nice in low light scenes and for the days sequences you can use and choose textures, it’s very interesting. For the lenses, I like to shoot with the small Optimo zooms, it gives me more flexibility, I like to use zooms during the shots. It’s a way to be always at the right focal length, at the right distance with the actors, and a way not to be too static. 

‘My Everything’

Category: Horizons
Format: 6K X-OCN
Camera: Sony Venice 1
Lens: ARRI Signature Primes

Nader Chalhoub: When Anne-Sophie entrusted me with the cinematography of her first feature, we both knew we needed to keep working as we always did in film school. Focus on the story and let the actors roam freely. That’s when I knew I needed to choose the right tools that could be both versatile and reliable.

The Sony Venice allowed us to shoot in darkly lit environments without fear of losing details, sometimes a single street light was impressively enough to see the actors’ full performances. When in tiny interiors the Rialto system came in handy as well the full frame sensor that allowed us to get wide shots without resorting to very short focal lengths. As for the lenses, the signature primes were the perfect match being at the same time lightweight and sharp while also smooth on skin tones even when wide open.

‘The New Year That Never Came’

Category: Horizons
Format: mostly 4:3 2.8K ARRIRAW and a small part in 3.4K OG ARRIRAW with 16:9 aspect ratio
Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini (the first story partly on ARRI XT)
Lens: Angenieux Optimo 28-76 mm – mainly; Angenieux Optimo 15-40 mm ; Zeiss Super Speed T1.3 – for car scenes and night exteriors

Biró Boróka: “The New Year That Never Came” completes the multi-award-winning short film “The Christmas Gift” (2018), directed by Bogdan Muresanu and filmed by Tudor Platon. This new film adds five more stories, expanding on the original narrative. While maintaining the cinematic language established in “The Christmas Gift,” we introduced slightly different visual styles for each character — some are slow and idyllic, some frenetic, while others have a more glamorous feel — fostering a deeper understanding of the characters’ lives.

Most of the film was shot handheld and in 4:3, but the ending adopts a different, lighter tone, gradually transitioning to a 16:9 format and a slow dolly in. The Alexa Mini was the optimal choice for this project, allowing us to shoot in 4:3 ARRIRAW and easily switch formats. Its versatility made it easy to transition from handheld to studio mode and also to tiny mode to fit into narrow spaces. We aimed for a fresh, slightly documentary-like approach with a curious camera and subtle zooms for emphasis, sometimes creating the feeling of being observed.

We used earlier versions of the Angenieux compact zooms (28-76 and 15-40), which provided a look I really love. For the car scenes and night exteriors, we needed fast and small lenses that could be easily matched with the Optimos, so we opted for a rehoused set of Zeiss Superspeed T1.3. The film was mainly shot with one camera, but for the most challenging scene — the recreation of the New Year’s Eve ceremony at the TV studio — we used two Minis and a few older Sony cameras for the TV footage.

The lighting is mostly realistic, often very low light to reflect the atmosphere of that era. We collaborated once again with the talented gaffer Octavian Andreescu to ensure consistent lighting. I am truly grateful for the wonderful crew I had the chance to work with on this film.

‘Of Dogs and Men’

Category: Horizons
Format: 4K RAW Canon 
Camera: Canon C300 / 500
Lens: Schneider FULL FRAME 

Ziv Berkovich: In order to move fast and be quick on response, I took advantage of a small camera such as Canon c500 but still maintained the full frame and raw files it contains. This film was shot in a real war zone in the south of Israel on the border with the Gaza Strip. There were alarms, and I had to be very mobile in my actions and response. Characters were real people and they were non-actors, so if something happened, I could set up a real quick angle and lighting for it. Therefore, this camera was exactly what I needed.

‘One of Those Days When Hemme Dies’

Category: Horizons
Format: 4K UHD
Camera: Arri Alexa Mini
Lens: ARRI / ZEISS Master Prime Lenses

Semih: When I first read Murat Fıratoğlu’s script “One of Those Days When Hemme Dies,” the world in which the story takes place reminded me of the minimal cinematic language of Abbas Kiarostami and the barren landscape that appears in many of Yılmaz Güney’s films. The story takes place in the Kurdish town Siverek that is situated in a harsh geography that experiences hot and dry summers with temperatures going above 40C. I wanted the roughness of the landscape to stand out in spartan shots and the heat to be reflected in warm yellow tones. The fact that the story happens within a single day of a young man’s life but yet carries philosophical depth, forced me to make delicate choices that would protect the coherence of the story without letting it drown in technical artistry. So I came to the conclusion that this story would not allow any visual exaggeration. Together with Murat, we decided to stay true to the timing described in the script and use completely natural light for both interior and exterior shots. The waste tomato fields are somehow the signature shots of the film. With the dense red color resembling blood, they carry a symbolic meaning, serving the suspense of the story. To underline this aspect visually, I often used dramatic wide angle shots to reveal the vulnerability of the humans of this geography, where no one is safe and everyone is left to their own faith in destiny. 

‘Pavements’

Category: Horizons
Format: 35mm (2-perf), 16mm (B/W), 4K Digital, MiniDV and Hi-8
Camera: Aaton Penelope (35mm), Arri S (16mm), Panasonic DVX100 (MiniDV), Sony FS7, Sony FX3, Sony Handycam Hi8
Lens: Cooke Panchro/i Classic, Cooke cine Varotal MkII 25-250mm, Canon L Series Zooms

Robert Kolodny: The nature of “Pavements” is that it has several very distinct modalities which it switches between: observational documentary, big-budget Hollywood biopic, hacky Broadway advertisement, screen test, public access TV, and recreated archival. Alex Ross Perry and I shot it over several years, which afforded us the opportunity to think out the different aesthetics we could utilize as modes of storytelling.

We also had great archival from Lance Bangs, which we were able to reverse engineer to seamlessly cut in our own actors and moments. Pavement is the band that defines the concept of slacker-indie-cool, and so the visuals had, to some extent, be in line with both their musical approach and general attitude. It was a joy to jump from movement to movement within the film; my background as a DP is really in observational nonfiction, so the scenes in the film that fit into that were comfortable and exciting — however, the 35mm 2 perf was a particularly delicious joy, because it was my first experience with 35.

I have to call out the incredible work done by my gaffer David Williamson, without whom we would not have been able to achieve the flourishes in lighting design that really make the scenes — as well as our great grip department. A team of great camera operators, including my brother Adam Kolodny, Logan Quarles, and Ryan Schnackenberg, made the massive scope of the film possible — as well as my ace camera team: AC Mike Cicchetti, 2nd Summer Sierra, and loader Conor Keep.

‘Pooja Sir’

Category: Horizons
Format: 10 bit 4:2:2 XAVC-I
Camera: Sony FX6, Sony FX3
Lens: Sirui Venus Anamorphic lenses

Sheldon Chau: Filming on the Sony FX6 and FX3 was one of the best decisions. In prep, director Deepak and I committed to embracing the truth — accurately capturing the environment, adapting to the conditions, and revealing the realism through the human eye; likewise, avoiding overstylizing or making it too pretty. The environment is a city in the southern plains of Nepal – where power cuts out frequently, and many homes are lit by a single light bulb. Using Sony’s cameras enabled us to film with very minimal lighting and embrace the available practical street and building lights. The low light capability is stunning, allowing us to carry a small lighting package (consisting of mainly Aputure units) that was not only vital in approaching cramped or tough locations but also in executing quick lighting setups that allowed Deepak more time with his actors. While the FX6 was on tripod or dolly, an FX3 on a Ronin gimbal was always on standby. Since this film deals with social unrest and police brutality, during our protest scenes with many extras, the compact FX3 set-up allowed me to ninja my way through the crowds and immerse the camera (and, therefore, the audience) directly into the action. We used the Sirui Venus Anamorphics, which provided a budget-friendly choice yet gave a unique, high-value look. While the producers offered to rent traditional cinema camera and lenses locally, we chose these to allow Deepak to focus the budget on story and scope – such as dedicating more resources into production design or in securing larger crowds to recreate the protests. This was an invaluable choice. The ultra-wide aspect ratio (2.59:1) was a strategy to capture the human eye’s naturally wide peripheral, while stylistically keeping the focus shallow and on the character instead of the surroundings, isolating us in mystery, tension, and uncertainty. This ratio gives a specific yet subjective window into Pooja’s internal mindset as she is lured into a new and unfamiliar world. Simply put, these cameras are game-changers! 

‘Quiet Life’

Category: Horizons
Format: 4.6K ARRIRAW – Open Gate 
Camera: Arri Alexa Super 35 
Lens: Arri Signature Prime 25,35,47,75,125

Olympia Mytilinaiou: When I read the script I tried to understand the feeling of it. I decided that the film needed a clear and sharp image to reflect the truth behind the story and its characters. Using Signature lenses with the Arri Alexa s35 enabled me to capture clean and crisp images, which we shot with an open gate and then crossed to 2.39 format, in post. I wanted to capture the natural whites, along with the pale colour palette that stems from the Nordic light, for most of the film, and to offset this against the warmer scenes and in the basement, in the later stages of the film. I tried to be both artistic and technical on set. The high latitude of the Alexa s35 itself gave me a chance to achieve this.

‘The Quiet Son’

Category: Competition
Format: Arri Raw 4,5K
Camera: Arri Alexa Mini LF
Lens: Panavision Primo 70

Frédéric Noirhomme: The Mini LF gave us the flexibility to shoot the film entirely on location. We had a lot of dusk and night scenes. The sets and the story required the frequent use of backlighting. The Mini LF provided all the nuances and details we wanted in shadows and low light. The Primo 70s are a great tool for telling our story. They allow us to work with short depths of field without distorting the image, while preserving the modelling and depth of the image, giving a human and organic access to the characters and the story. 

‘Queer’

Category: Competition
Format: 35mm Film
Camera: ArriCam 
Lens: Cooke I classic / Zeiss Super Speed 
Cinematographer: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

‘The Room Next Door’

Category: Competition
Format: Arriraw 4.8k
Camera: Alexa 35
Lens: C series Panavision Anamorphic lenses

Edu Grau: It was an incredible honor to be part of a Pedro Almodóvar movie, a dream in all its glory. For “The Room Next Door” with Pedro, we wanted to find a look closer to his early films that defined his style, where color takes center stage and the beauty of the actresses is non-negotiable. We chose to shoot on Alexa35 and Panavision Anamorphic Lenses because we felt that combination, with added grain and the 2,40 aspect ratio, helped the characters and elevated the story that unfolds between them. We wanted to do a total Almodovarian movie, honor his style as much as possible, and be true to the story and its characters

‘Se Posso Permettermi: Capitolo Secondo’

Category: Out of Competition
Format: 4K ARRIRAW
Camera: Alexa Mini LF
Lens: Leitz Summicron-C

Paolo Ferrari: A short story in the cinema has a quick and deep breath. Together with Marco Bellocchio I tried to visually capture that breath. The camera and the light are pushed to the limit between the dreamlike aspect of the film and its real dimension. Comedy and tragedy are confused, Fausto’s story unfolds in the midst of the books that invade the house, while the lights and shadows suggest a deeper mystery. 

‘Sicilian Letters’

Category: Competition
Format: 1:2, 39
Camera: Red Gemini
Lens: LEITZ SUMMICRON / CANON ZOOM 

Luca Bigazzi: Those tools are the most suitables to my idea of photography. 

‘Songs of the Slow Burning Earth’

Category: Out of Competition
Format: UHD, ProRes 422HQ. XAVC QFHD
Camera: Black Magic 6K pro, Sony FS5mark 2, Sony FX6
Lens: Yashica 50mm f1.4; Sigma 18-35 f1.8; Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS; canon 2x extender; Sony 100-400; voigtländer 21/1,8

Volodymyr Usyk: When planning the shooting, we understood that the day could be very long and we would need to cover a significant distance on foot. In this case, heavy and bulky camera equipment would have limited our freedom of movement and agility. It was crucial to minimize the weight and size of the camera, lenses, and tripod. Additionally, having a built-in neutral density (ND) filter was an important requirement. This feature would save time on set by eliminating the need to manually attach and remove a separate filter. As a result of these considerations, we were able to assemble the entire camera setup in a compact shoulder bag. This level of portability allowed us to remain mobile and efficient throughout the long shooting day. Of course, this is not a dream kit, but in this case we have found the right balance between quality and mobility. 

‘Stranger Eyes’

Category: Competition
Format: 4.6K ARRIRAW 3:2 Open Gate with 1.85 Frame Guide
Camera: Alexa 35
Lens: Arri Signature prime with 25-250 Alura Zooma

Hideho Urata: I did some tests with some lenses and decided on the Signature primes because of how well the lenses perform with a fast aperture and clean and crisp look without being overly sharp. One of the deciding factors was also the 15mm lens which gave me a wide angle, slightly distorted image but still sharp to the edges which I used to simulate CCTV cameras in multiple parts of the film.

‘Three Friends’

Category: Competition
Format: Arriraw
Camera: Alexa SXT
Lens: Cooke Xtal Xpress

Laurent Desmet: With Emmanuel Mouret, the director, we like to shoot in cinemascope format as it helps us to manage a long “plan-sequence” of two people speaking in small apartments. I think there is one of 5 minutes in this movie. The scope allows for both wide and tight frames, it is the combination of two optical values ​​into one. This brings a form of romance and, on certain settings, a real breadth. But we don’t like the sharpness of some modern lenses, especially on faces; the Cooke Xtal is the best for the softness. Furthermore we shot as very high Iso settings to increase it. And we added Mitchel A filters…Softness is a keyword to work with Emmanuel Mouret.

‘2073’

Category: Competition
Format: ARRIRAW 4K 
Camera: Alexa 35
Lens: Blackwing 7’s Frankie Tuned 

Bradford Young: The visual language, or style of the film, was concerned with triggering familiar “dystopian future” tropes in film while at the same time never letting the audience lose sight of the fact that the future is now. We made assumptions, visually, about the future based on what we are witnessing in our dystopian present. Our fictional camera approach had to have a harmonious relationship with our non-fictional / archival material. What started out as trying to match both elements turned into our camera wanting to be in the moment. A character moving through our dystopian future similarity to all of the people who shot our non-fiction / archival material in the present. Salute to all of the camera people who risked and risk their lives to capture some of the most compelling images of our planet and humanity in peril. We also shot quite a bit of our film on an LED volume, with UNREAL, to help project ourselves into the future. We also shot on location and on a small stage build. We used Frankie tuned BLACKWING 7 glass to help us add texture across each shooting approach. But, mainly to add a subtle patina to the volume stage. Flares, veiling, and unpredictable aberrations added by the Frankies helped us merge practical set elements with the LED screens. At the same time, we also tried to lean into the artificial nature of the screens. We tried to use that cognitive dissonance one feels when seeing an LED screen used to the advantage of the films visual language. It was all a matter of adding confusion and emotional intensity to the urgent nature of the film. 

‘Vermiglio’

Category: Competition
Format: Sony RAW X-OCN ST
Camera: Sony Venice 2
Lens: Bausch & Lomb Super Baltar 

Mikhail Krichman: The research of the look of the film brought us to the great book “The Dawn of the Color Photograph: Albert Kahn’s Archives of the Planet.” Autochrome aesthetics have a special palette and color rendition. That was considered as our main direction. Originally, Maura Delpero, the director, dreamed of shooting on film. But at the end of the day, the production couldn’t afford it due to heavy logistics. Daniele Siragusano, leading image engineer from FilmLight helped us in advising how to prepare the camera tests. We did tests using SONY Venice 2 and Super 16. The winner obviously was the film. We chose the Super Baltar series from Bausch & Lomb — beautiful vantage lenses – first of all because of absolutely special behavior, especially wide open. A combination of these lenses, the SONY sensor, and the LUT designed by Florine Bel from MPC Paris and colorist Veronica Tiron surfaced a unique image full of analog character with the advantages of the digital sensor. Also these lenses really allowed me to break the ultra-high definition of the SONY Venice 2. During the principal photography, 25 and 35mm lenses were mostly used on a daily basis. Such interpretation of reality has helped us to bring the story back to the first half of the XXth century. 

‘Wishing on a Star’

Category: Horizons
Format: Sony XAVC 
Camera: Sony FX3 and Sony S II
Lens: Sony ZOOM 24-70 /2,8 and Letz Leica ZOOM 37-70 /4

Martin Kollar: Since our film “Wishing on a Star” involved extensive travel and flights (Italy, Croatia, Taiwan), we decided to shoot it as efficiently as possible with compact equipment. For this, we chose the Sony FX3. It’s incredible what you can achieve with such a small camera. I was particularly impressed by the performance in low light conditions, especially how well it handled 12800 ISO.

‘The Witness’

Category: Horizons
Camera: ARRI Alexa SXT plus 
Lens: Sigma ALTA PL lenses 

Rouzbeh Raiga: One of the reasons that I chose the ARRI Alexa SXT plus and Sigma ALTA PL lenses was to transmit the natural sense and depth of field, which the audience is familiar with. In [“The Witness”], I want to notify you of the importance of dark spots, shadows, dark colors, and nights. I try to show the lights and sources chroma, tone, kelvin, and angle of lights in the way that we feel in real life in society, which the camera helps us find the goal. All cause suspense, fear, and curiosity, which can reach the conceptional of the film. 

‘Wolfs’

Category: Out of Competition
Format: ARRIRAW
Camera: ALEXA 35 
Lens: Master Anamorphics and ALFA lenses 

Larkin Seiple: Jon wanted “Wolfs” to feel timeless but also like a dream. This big crazy night that spins out of control in the middle of silent and almost barren New York City. We embraced the look of practical street lights for most of the scenes, so we opted for the Alexa as it’s quite sensitive, allowing us to shoot in locations that wouldn’t permit lighting.

Buster Keaton films were an inspiration for us in terms of camera movement and playfulness. We needed the camera to be nimble and move around on a variety of rigs for many of the action sequences. With the Alexa, we were able to really strip it down and put the camera in wheel wells, construction ladders, and all sorts of ridiculous places.

For lenses, we wanted glass that could feel subjective and dreamy but at the same time didn’t create a lot of distortion. The master’s anamorphics were dreamy but subtle at night, and they actually had a great minimum focus, which allowed us to really be with the characters during some of the wilder sequences.

A big part of our prep was testing the ALEXA against film; we shot in many conditions and built a LUT trying to emulate the look of film at night. Specifically, we were chasing the look of night from many iconic ’80s films. We landed on the look of the Kodak stock Eastman 5247. The way it renders greens and magenta became a big part of our palette.