Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Liminal Journey

17/01/2023

In Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, Mexican filmmaker and expat Silverio Gama (Daniel Gim nez Cacho) undertakes a mind- and time-bending journey of the soul in which he's forced to confront his creative appetites, family history, national identity, mortality and more. The tale is steeped in director and cowriter Alejandro G. I rritu's personal ruminations; to help realize his vision for the movie, I rritu found a deeply sympathetic collaborator in cinematographer Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC. Since Bardo's premiere, Khondji's work has been lauded with a Silver Frog at the EnergaCamerimage International Film Festival and a growing number of award nominations, including from his colleagues in the American Society of Cinematographers.

During preproduction, Khondji turned to Panavision for a lens package that centered around three wide-angle focal lengths from the large-format Sphero 65 series of optics, allowing him to emphasize the actors' presence within the spaces through which they pass. The cinematographer recently reconnected with Panavision to share his experiences on the project.

Panavision: How did Alejandro describe his vision for Bardo?

Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC: Everything started with a series of phone conversations. A friend of his contacted me and told me that Alejandro wanted to reach out about a project he was about to start, and it was quite urgent. So Alejandro called me from Mexico I was in Paris and we started a conversation about this incredible story. What he was telling me was amazing. It was very deep, very personal, and I could tell it was something very meaningful. It was a story that he wanted to tell that was very important to him.

We were getting along really well, and I was already very deeply immersed in the story before he even thought of sending me the script. Then, when I read the script, it was magnificent. I decided immediately, Yes, I will do the film,' and I jumped in a plane to Mexico, and immediately we were looking at locations he already had.

When you began collaborating, were elements like the moving camera, the long takes and the wide-angle perspectives already present in what Alejandro was envisioning?

Khondji: The very fluid, long sequence movements and the use of wide angles was already in him. He really wanted to tell the story this way.

What drew you specifically to the Sphero 65 lenses? What qualities did you see in them that made them a good match for this story?

Khondji: I brought Alejandro the idea of shooting in large-format photography, in digital, to have the actors very present and to map the landscapes around Silverio in a very present way. I was not after definition; I was after presence. I thought it would be the best way to tell the story.

We tested the Sphero lenses, and the 17mm, 21mm and 24mm were great. They were wide-angle, but they were not so distorted. The moment we had the camera at a certain height, the distortion resolved itself. We had doubles of the 17mm, 21mm and 24mm, and we made almost the whole movie with those lenses.

There's no barrel distortion, but the image seems to stretch along the sides of the frame in a way that suggests a time-warp effect.

Khondji: Yes, it's a very good point. It was a time warp. Its not something that we planned, but its something that comes out of the film. Its very good that you pointed that out.

There are echoes of other films that meditate on life and death and artistic ambition movies like Fellinis 8 and Bergmans Wild Strawberries. Were films like these a direct point of reference for you and Alejandro?

Khondji: These are movies that we screened. We screened a very good print of 8 in the cinema of Churubusco with all the crew. But, you know, when you watch a film like 8 , you cannot be really directly inspired. You watch it, you get the feeling of it, and thats all you can take from a great film like 8 or Citizen Kane or Wild Strawberries. Its too strong, too powerful to try to take anything more than the feeling.

But we screened 8 , Wild Strawberries, Songs From the Second Floor and other films like that. We watched parts of Los Olvidados and All That Jazz. There were always people from the crew with us, like [production designer] Eugenio Caballero, [costume designer] Anna Terrazas and [producer] Stacy Perskie. These films were like friends. We brought them along with us, and the film had all of this around it, like little stars sending good messages. That's how I take inspiration. It's just an idea that we brought with us.

Over the years, youve also spoken about the inspiration that you've found in silent cinema. Do you continue to find creative inspiration in silent movies?

Khondji: Yes. Absolutely. I love silent movies. I love black-and-white movies. Most of my inspirations before a movie starts are in black-and-white. I love color very much, but I'm very careful with it because color is something that can influence you very strongly. So you have to be careful with color. But I am influenced by silent movies. They're like friends. Its like going to the Tate Gallery or the Metropolitan Museum. I know these places, but I go there just for a room, just for a place, just to be in front of a Giotto painting.

I never studied history of art or history of cinema. I studied filmmaking in a film school in New York, and I remember going every weekend to the Metropolitan Museum and just spending time in front of paintings. Sometimes I was missing Europe, so I was in front of the impressionists, and I was looking at places that I knew near Paris by the river. Its very beautiful. Inspirations are very important.

With its meditations on life and death and creativity, Bardo is a very heady, emotional movie. What did it mean to you personally to be able to help tell this story?

Khondji: Immediately when I
LINK: https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/liminal-journe...
See more stories from panavision

More from Panavision France

16/03/2023

Enter the Wu-Tang

For three seasons, the Hulu original series Wu-Tang: An American Saga has chronicled the life and times of seminal '90s-era rap group the Wu-Tang Clan. Cine...

16/03/2023

Committing to Memory

Nominated for three awards between the 2022 Berlin and Toronto International Film Festivals, writer-director David Findlay's short Lay Me by the Shore is a ...

16/03/2023

A New Take on the Old West

A revenge story unlike any other, the six-episode Amazon miniseries The English follows an Englishwoman (played by Emily Blunt) who traverses a mythical 19th-ce...

14/03/2023

Cinematic Fanatic

Winner of the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema at the 2023 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the RBC Emerging Canadian Artist Award at...

14/03/2023

The Making of Empire of Light

Written and directed by Sam Mendes, the period feature Empire of Light marks the latest collaboration between gaffer John Biggles Higgins and cinematographer ...

14/03/2023

A Sweet Science

Creed III finds Adonis Creed son of the late boxing champ Apollo Creed, the erstwhile nemesis, mentor and friend of Rocky Balboa a successfully retired heav...

14/03/2023

No Man Left Alone

Adapted from the 2015 Swedish film which itself was adapted from the Swedish novel En man som heter Ove (A Man Called Ove), director Marc Forster's feat...

08/03/2023

A High-Impact Short

Awarded The Golden Frog in the Short Documentary Films Competition at the 2022 Camerimage International Film Festival, A Mouthful of Petrol brings viewers into ...

08/03/2023

The Making of Elvis

On Sunday, March 5, cinematographer Mandy Walker, AM, ASC, ACS made history as the first woman to win the American Society of Cinematographers' Theatrical F...

01/03/2023

LEE Filters Canada Meets Evolving Needs in 2023

In the summer of 2021, after more than 30 years of selling its lighting products in Canada through a distributor, LEE Filters established its own footprint in t...

01/03/2023

Dining in Style

Expertly blending flavors of comedy and horror, director Mark Mylod's feature The Menu follows a young couple on an extravagant date to an exclusive restaur...

01/03/2023

Don't Sweat the Technique

The path toward lensing great films is even more varied than the platforms that distribute them. In the case of Netflix's Blonde, an artful balance between ...

22/02/2023

New Visions

For three decades, Film Independent's Project Involve has fostered filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds, helping many of them such as Jon M. Chu a...

22/02/2023

Through a Donkey's Eyes

Taking its cues from Robert Bresson's 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar, director Jerzy Skolimowski's feature EO follows the wayward journey of a Polish cir...

15/02/2023

Building on What's Reserved

Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, the FX comedy series Reservation Dogs centers around four teenagers figuring out life as they grow up on a Native Am...

15/02/2023

A Tailor-Made Ensemble

HBO Max's revamped Gossip Girl follows a group of privileged private schoolers as their not-so-teenaged drama is strategically shared on social media by the...

14/02/2023

Panalux Allegra LED range provides enhanced versatility, color accuracy

LONDON, England (14 February, 2023) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision&...

13/02/2023

Given to Fly

In October 1948, Jesse Brown became the first African American to complete the U.S. Navy's flight training program and received his Naval Aviator Badge. The...

08/02/2023

A Treasured Heritage

The popular National Treasure franchise has embarked upon a new adventure on Disney+. The 10-episode first season of National Treasure: Edge of History follows ...

07/02/2023

An Honest Examination

The lived experiences of writer-director Elegance Bratton are brought to the screen in The Inspection, which follows the character Ellis French (played by Jerem...

06/02/2023

Intimate and Epic

Set in the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the year 1823, director Gina Prince-Bythewood's feature The Woman King focuses on the historically inspired bu...

02/02/2023

Shots That Speak Volumes

Director Sarah Polley's feature Women Talking about a group of women in an isolated Mennonite community in 2010 who share refuge in a hayloft while weighi...

02/02/2023

Honk for Your Format

It's not often that a cinematographer is tasked with shooting a film within a film, but for writer-director Adamma Ebo's feature Honk For Jesus. Save Yo...

25/01/2023

Panatar, Shantaram

Adapted from the novel by Gregory David Roberts, the Apple TV+ series Shantaram tells the epic story of an imprisoned criminal (played by Charlie Hunnam) who es...

25/01/2023

True to Life

Inspired by Stephanie Land's memoir of the same name, the 10-episode Netflix limited series Maid centers around Alex (played by Margaret Qualley), a young s...

24/01/2023

Mystical Turns

Lucas Delangle's Jacky Caillou gives audiences something to believe in. The director's feature debut follows the eponymous young man (played by Thomas ...

20/01/2023

Through the Years

For Vincent De Paula, CSC, shooting the Netflix series Firefly Lane felt like a dream come true. Over the course of 26 episodes spanning two seasons, he was tas...

17/01/2023

Liminal Journey

In Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, Mexican filmmaker and expat Silverio Gama (Daniel Gim nez Cacho) undertakes a mind- and time-bending journey o...

14/01/2023

In Conversation With Mandy Walker, AM, ASC, ACS

In December, cinematographer Mandy Walker, AM, ASC, ACS made history as the first woman to win the Best Cinematography Award from the Australian Academy of Cine...

13/01/2023

In Conversation With Mandy Walker, ACS, ASC

In December, cinematographer Mandy Walker, ACS, ASC made history as the first woman to win the Best Cinematography Award from the Australian Academy of Cinema a...

12/12/2022

Complementary Vision

The feature Mascarade reunited writer-director Nicolas Bedos and cinematographer Laurent Tangy, AFC, following their collaboration on the 2021 release OSS 117: ...

12/12/2022

The Making of Tesciowie (The In-Laws)

For director Jakub Michalczuk's lauded comedy Tesciowie (aka The In-Laws), cinematographer Micha Englert, PSC sought a natural look that he achieved with P...

07/12/2022

Listen for the Call

Directed by Valentin Petit, the globe-hopping Squad Up spot for the hotly anticipated video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II assembles a star-studded cast s...

07/12/2022

Eternal Hunger

To me, this definitely has that '90s video look and feel, cinematographer James Beattie says of the music video for the song Miriam by Berlin-based artis...

07/12/2022

All the Reasons

Directed by Brendan Yates, the music video for Paramore's This Is Why finds band members Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York in secluded locales, f...

07/12/2022

Till It's Dawn

For the track Tonight on their album Alpha Zulu, French band Phoenix partnered with Vampire Weekend's lead vocalist and guitarist, Ezra Koenig. Underscori...

07/12/2022

Revolution x Reinvention

The campaign surrounding sportswear brand Puma's collaboration with multi-hyphenate artist Skepta presents a message of revolution, reinvention, and the lim...

30/11/2022

Farming the Imagination

My career has spanned many genres, a journey I could have never predicted, says cinematographer Simon Reay. With credits that run the gamut from the series Man...

30/11/2022

Love on the Margins

Starring Taylor Russell as Maren and Timoth e Chalamet as Lee, director Luca Guadagnino's feature Bones and All is a film about cannibal lovers, cinematog...

15/11/2022

A Collaboration With Panavision: Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC

Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC's credits as a cinematographer include the features Man on the Moon, Keeping the Faith, Mona Lisa Smile, Freedomland, Perfect Stran...

11/11/2022

The Making of The School for Good and Evil

Based on the book by Soman Chainani, the Netflix feature The School for Good and Evil depicts an epic battle as seen through the eyes of best friends Agatha (So...

09/11/2022

The Making of Sonata

Written and directed by Bartosz Blaschke, the Polish feature Sonata is inspired by the true story of a deaf boy misdiagnosed with autism who discovers a passion...

09/11/2022

Incredible Journey

Writer-director Olivier Dahan's feature Simone, le voyage du si cle (known in English as Simone: Woman of the Century) traces the life story of Simone Veil,...

06/11/2022

A Relationship to Remember

Introduced in 2021, the FilmLight Colour Awards celebrate the art of color grading as practiced around the globe. This year's nominees in the Theatrical Fea...

24/10/2022

A Love Like This

A comedy particular to modern times, the feature I Love My Dad is equal parts true-life catfish story and popcorn comedy. The movie was written and directed by...

24/10/2022

Un Mystery Crew Diferente

Created by Saturday Night Live alums Fred Armisen and Julio Torres along with fellow comedian Ana Fabrega, the Spanish-language comedy series Los Espookys foll...

11/10/2022

Call and Response

Known for photographing cult-classic television such as Felicity and Monk, Marshall Adams, ASC knows how to identify and respond to a story that subverts ex...

03/10/2022

Guiding Principles

Based on James Lee Burke's short story Winter Light, the feature God's Country stars Thandiwe Newton as Sandra, a college professor whose encounter with...

23/09/2022

A Look Beyond Horror

When cinematographer Zach Kuperstein got the job to shoot writer-director Zach Cregger's horror feature Barbarian, one of the first things he did was reach ...

21/09/2022

In Lieu of Lumon

From the eerie calm of Lynne Cohen photographs to the is it safe aesthetic of Marathon Man, cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagn has underscored her own creative...