A Look Through His Lens
2024 · 103m · Documentary
Oscar-winning cinematographer Philippe Rousselot offers a master class in image making, with insightful examples from his work on Diva, Hope and Glory, A River Runs Through It, Dangerous Liaisons, Interview with the Vampire and many more in this cineaste's delight.
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Otar Iosseliani, le merle siffleur
2006 · ★ 5
Georgian director Otar Iosseliani prepares his film Jardins en Automne. Nothing is conventional in the filmmaker's system: Julie Bertuccelli portrays the gestation and production of a film that seems to follow the freest and most unpredictable poetic intuitions of its creator. The constant and hilarious arguments with the producer, Martine Marignac, a Michel Piccoli transformed into an old woman, and the director's peculiar filming system, in which he signals his actors to start with a whistle, paint a picture of one of the most unclassifiable cinematic experiences in contemporary cinema.
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Eclectic Shorts by Eric Leiser
2006
Eric Leiser displays his boundless creativity in this short collection; A stunning compilation of works presented with a mixture of live action, stop motion animation, puppetry and pixilation techniques, produced between 2001 and 2006.
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Lumière, Le Cinéma!
2024 · ★ 7.1
In one of those wonderful coincidences of history, lumière, the French word for “light,” was also the last name of brothers Auguste and Louis, whose brilliant invention, the cinematograph, helped to inaugurate the most beloved art form of the last 130 years. Institute Lumière director Thierry Frémaux uses Lumière, Le Cinema! to guide the viewer through over a hundred shorts—some famous, some forgotten, some never before seen—directed by Lumière and company. In the process, Frémaux illuminates how the brothers employed the camera as a creative instrument as they (and their operators) mastered framing, staging, and subject selection for quotidian and exotic microdocumentaries as well as the first ever fictional motion pictures. The result is not only a glorious re(telling) of the genesis of cinema but a profound meditation on the beautiful world captured—and the mysterious world imagined—by the Lumières.
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Visions of Light
1992 · ★ 7
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
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The Magic of Méliès
1997 · ★ 7.2
A walk through the life and work of the brilliant French filmmaker Georges Méliès (1861-1938), pioneer of special and visual effects.
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ADM: DOP
2003 · ★ 7
ADM:DOP (Anthony Dod Mantle - Director of Photography) is an impressionistic look into the creative life and vision of cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, the genius eye behind Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey-Boy, Lars von Trier's Dogville, Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later and Thomas Vinterberg's first two features, Festen and It's All About Love.
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Godard by Godard
2023 · ★ 7.2
Godard by Godard is an archival self-portrait of Jean-Luc Godard. It retraces the unique and unheard-of path, made up of sudden detours and dramatic returns, of a filmmaker who never looks back on his past, never makes the same film twice, and tirelessly pursues his research, in a truly inexhaustible diversity of inspiration. Through Godard’s words, his gaze and his work, the film tells the story of a life of cinema; that of a man who will always demand a lot of himself and his art, to the point of merging with it.
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Alice Guy, the First Female Filmmaker
2021 · ★ 7.2
Who, apart from moviegoers, knows Alice Guy (1873-1968) today? However, she was the first woman behind the camera and the first female director and producer of fiction films in history.
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Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna
2025 · ★ 9
A personal look at the life, work and untimely death of celebrated indie cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was shot and killed in a tragic accident on the set of the film Rust in 2021.
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Side by Side
2012 · ★ 7.3
Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.
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Cameraperson
2016 · ★ 6.7
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
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