Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Matthias Knigswieser, AAC on the cinematography of A Man Called Otto

19/08/2024

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 feature A Man Called Otto finds Tom Hanks stepping into the role of the titular curmudgeon who struggles to find joy after the devastating loss of his wife. To help translate the essence of the original for American audiences, Forster reteamed with cinematographer Matthias K nigswieser, AAC, and together the duo crafted a visual style that combined film and digital origination with Panaflex Millennium XL and Panavised Alexa Mini cameras bridged by a set of PVintage lenses sourced from Panavision New York.

Panavision recently caught up with K nigswieser, who graciously shared his perspective on how he and his collaborators clad the movie in a fabric that unifies the story and audiences alike.

Panavision: How would you describe your approach to the movie's visuals?

Matthias K nigswieser, AAC: Restraint. I was aiming for a less-is-more approach and decided to go with a 16:9 aspect ratio, using a single set of vintage spherical lenses. Our main character is somewhat of a square, and the boxy aspect ratio felt the most appropriate for framing Otto and his neighborhood. While the visual language loosens up as the film progresses, it is still extremely restrained and understated, with lots of dollies and lock-offs, reflecting the nature of the main character.

To capture Otto's world in a soulful and subtle way, we chose to shoot all exteriors on 35mm film. The neighborhood and its inhabitants are the core of the story, and film is really good with skin tones and in capturing that certain something the essence.

Were there any visual references you looked at for inspiration?

K nigswieser: During the beginning stages of the film, Todd Hido's photographs of warm light filtering through stained curtains in motel bedrooms, William Eggleston's Americana color palette, and Edward Hopper's graphic and block-like compositions served to communicate Otto's world. Coincidentally, during my prep and testing time at Panavision New York, the Whitney Museum showed a special exhibition on Edward Hopper.

What brought you to Panavision for A Man Called Otto?

K nigswieser: The ability to craft a unique look for each film is what keeps bringing me back to Panavision.

Our digital and film hybrid approach had to work in technical terms as well as creatively. I worked closely with [Panavision Technical Marketing Manager] Guy McVicker and 1st AC Shaun Mayor to choose and customize a single set of Panavision Super Speed and Ultra Speed lenses that would give me the range and unique character fitting for this film, letting me tell the story of Otto's overly controlled daytime world as well as the dreamy memories without having to carry an additional set of lenses. The different looks were ultimately achieved through lens customization, lighting and the use of multiple formats and filtration. A big thank you to Marnie Zimmerman at Panavision New York for the great support!

How does this project differ from others in your career?

K nigswieser: It was a first for me and Marc Forster to shoot an American adaptation of a European film that already exists. It's a remake for the American mindset, yet it tells a universal tale. I feel that we gave the film a bit of Euro seasoning,' but it is deliberately very American and was adapted to serve a broader audience while maintaining its own artistic integrity.

What inspired your journey toward a career in cinematography?

K nigswieser: A culmination of multiple events in my life led to this point. When I was 13, my mom's boyfriend at the time had this shiny silver Sony camcorder that I was enamored with. One day, as we left on a small motorboat at sunset from the city of Venice, Italy, he handed me the camera and let me shoot with it. I felt like the sword of Excalibur had melded with my hands. I haven't let go since.

Growing up as an only child in need of company, throughout my life cameras have served many purposes. They're company, paintbrushes and a means to communicate something greater than words. I love writing and drawing, but the art of cinema has kept me captivated the most.

I find inspiration in art, music, travel and social interactions. I love the underground and roads less travelled. Everything filters into my work somehow. I experience cinematography as a total extension of myself.
LINK: https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/no-man-left-al...
See more stories from panavision

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

20/04/2026

Google Cloud Embraces the Rise of Agentic Production

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Creators Go All in on AI, Niche Content

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

NBC Sports' Jon Miller: Broadcast Is Having a Moment'

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Beyond the Lift and Shift': Cloud Migration's New Mandate

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Virtual Production Finds Its Footing

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Corporate Creators: All Companies Are Media Companies Now

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

IABM Rebrands as the International Association of MediaTech

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

CBS Detroit Debuts New AR/VR Technology-Driven Studio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Fox Sports Taps Appear X Platform for Remote Production

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

CueScript and Lighting Design Group Expand Customer Oppor...

CueScript and Lighting Design Group Expand Customer Opportunities Through New Partnership Find both companies at 2026 NAB Show in CueScript Booth # C 4720 ...

20/04/2026

Layercake Deepens Bitmovin Integration to Power End-to-En...

[Sydney, NSW, 20 April 2026] - Layercake, the company behind the intelligent media orchestration platform Streamcake, today announced the formalisation of its i...

20/04/2026

FOX Sports selects Appear X Platform for next-generation...

Deployment spans FOX Sports' REMI infrastructure, IP production for a major global soccer event, and its Jewel Events production systems Appear, a global l...

20/04/2026

Pro Sound Effects Launches the Industry's First and Only Native Sound Effects Integration for Avid Media Composer at NAB 2026

Pro Sound Effects Launches the Industry's First and Only Native Sound Effect...

20/04/2026

SBE Elevates Fred Willard to SBE Fellow

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 Update

Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 Update Brie Clayton April 20, 2026 0 Comments New update adds camera control and monitoring ...

20/04/2026

Maxon Announces Free Tools and Mobile Expansion of ZBrush and Cinema 4D

Maxon Announces Free Tools and Mobile Expansion of ZBrush and Cinema 4D Brie Clayton April 20, 2026 0 Comments Cinema 4D brings professional 3D workfl...

20/04/2026

Vizrt AI Keyer kills the green screen and creates virtual scenes in any environment

Vizrt AI Keyer kills the green screen and creates virtual scenes in any environm...

20/04/2026

Register now - Market & Audience Department Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session

Register now - Market & Audience Department Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session 11 February 2026 Screen Australia Head of Market & Audience Rakel Tansley Talking to...

20/04/2026

Screen Australia appoints Tanya Phegan as Narrative Content Head of Development

Screen Australia appoints Tanya Phegan as Narrative Content Head of Development 17 March 2026 Tanya Phegan Screen Australia has today announced the appointmen...

20/04/2026

Applications Open for Skip Ahead 11

Applications Open for Skip Ahead 11 19 March 2026 Past Skip Ahead recipients (L-R): Macfarlane Bros, Rainbow Bop, Lyanna Kea. Screen Australia and YouTube Aus...

20/04/2026

Screen Australia empowers the next games generation, including new creatives from neighbouring disciplines

Screen Australia empowers the next games generation, including new creatives fro...

20/04/2026

Official Co-production Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session

Official Co-production Ask Me Anything (AMA) Session 26 March 2026 Image (L-R): Mix Tape, Michele McDonald, Flower & Flour. Interested in international Co-pro...

20/04/2026

Screen Australia announces Narrative Content funding for 91 projects, including four short films paired with industry mentors

Screen Australia announces Narrative Content funding for 91 projects, including ...

20/04/2026

Production Infrastructure and Capacity Analysis (PICA) pinpoints four key workforce challenges in the Australian screen industry

Production Infrastructure and Capacity Analysis (PICA) pinpoints four key workfo...

20/04/2026

Australians in Film and Screen Australia Announce the 2026 Participants in the Talent Gateway and Global Producers Program

Australians in Film and Screen Australia Announce the 2026 Participants in the T...

20/04/2026

Screen Australia relaunches website with new tools and improved user experience

Screen Australia relaunches website with new tools and improved user experience 16 April 2026 Screen Australia relaunches website Screen Australia has relaun...

20/04/2026

Ikegami Announces VFE-P07D Monocular OLED Viewfinder

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

EVS Launches Choreon Robotic Control Solution

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Ross Video Showcases End-To-End Production Ecosystem at 2026 Nab Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Heidi Steffen to Become President of TitanTV

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

NVIDIA and Partners Showcase the Future of AI-Driven Manufacturing at Hannover Messe 2026

Manufacturing is at an inflection point. Across every major industrial economy, ...

20/04/2026

Autonomous AI at Scale: Adobe Agents Unlock Breakthrough Creative Intelligence With NVIDIA and WPP

AI agents are transforming how work gets done across all industries, acceleratin...

19/04/2026

NAB Show 2026 Is Here! Follow All of our Live Coverage!

Blackmagic Design has announced the ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP and ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP Plus, two SMPTE 2110-native live production switchers. The ATEM ...

19/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Grass Valley CEO Jon Wilson on AMPPs Explosive Growth, Hybrid Workflows, and Whats New at the Show

Grass Valley is finding the right balance between its hardware heritage with an ...

19/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Oracles Kip Schauer on Why OCI Is Doubling Down on Media, Sports, and Broadcast

Oracle's strategy rests on the foundational strengths of Oracle Cloud Infras...

19/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Program Productions Jess Kowatch on Whats New with ProCrewz and the Impact of AI on Crewing

Program Productions, the live sports production industry's leading crewer, i...

19/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Aggrekos Joe Scionti on Powering the Super Bowl, PGA Championship, and the Road to the FIFA World Cup

At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, SVG sat down with Joe Scionti, Account Manage...

19/04/2026

NAB 2026: Evertz to highlight evertz.io XChange for live event management and market switching

Evertz (Booth N817) is set to present new services within its evertz.io platform...

19/04/2026

NAB 2026: Evertz to showcase IPMX-certified NUCLEUS and MMA platforms for AV and ST 2110 integration

Evertz (Booth N817) will showcase its IPMX-certified NUCLEUS platform alongside ...

19/04/2026

NAB 2026: Evertz to showcase ENX media core for hybrid SDI and IP facilities

Evertz (Booth N817) is set to showcase ENX at NAB 2026, a media core platform designed to support hybrid SDI and IP infrastructures in production facilities and...

19/04/2026

NAB 2026: Evertz introduces Studer VistaVUE Touch for broadcast control

Evertz (Booth N817) will introduce Studer VistaVUE Touch at NAB 2026, a control surface designed to integrate audio, video and control workflows within a custom...

19/04/2026

NAB 2026: Evertz highlights X-CALIBER high-density encoding platform for media transport

Evertz (Booth N817) will highlight X-CALIBER at NAB 2026, an encoding and decodi...