The story of a shy photographer who breaks out of his shell after attending a succession of drag shows, Three Nights a Week offers an honest look behind the veil of personal identity. The movie was co-written and directed by Florent Gou lou, who imbues the story with spirit and wisdom that only experience can bring. For the production, Gou lou reteamed with cinematographer Vadim Alsayed to help ensure the director's debut feature would ring true. Here, Alsayed recounts their creative path and the support they found from Panavision Paris.
Panavision: How did you become involved in the project?
Vadim Alsayed: Our collaboration was born when we made his graduate film Un homme mon fils together at [French national film school] La F mis. Following that short film, we then made three others together, including Beauty Boys, which was the film we shot with Yukunkun Productions before Three Nights a Week. Florent told me about his feature film project as soon as he left La F mis, in 2017, and he called me when the preparation for Three Nights a Week started.
How would you describe the look of the project?
Alsayed: The film deals with several subjects: on the one hand, the world of health and AIDS prevention, the daily life of Baptiste [Pablo Pauly] in his relationship, and his work at Fnac, and on the other the world of nightlife and his discovery of the drag universe lights, colors, sequins and the show. The drag show had to shine, be colorful, bright. Florent voluntarily chose to place his film in the Christmas period so as to never leave the color or the shine in the night. We thus thought of Christmas garlands that we wanted to be present in all non-drag moments, Christmas trees, all kinds of colored or luminous Christmas decorations. If we had listened to each other, we would have decorated all of Paris, Strasbourg and Martigues with hundreds of garlands, fir trees and Christmas decorations! We thought of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, which excels in this area. Ultimately, I think its a good thing we didn't have the means to put too much on, because I like the contrast between outdoor life and the world of parties and spectacles, allowing a return to reality when leaving the shows.
The challenge of the film was also to find different harmonious colors between each sequence of parties and drag shows. We therefore made choices to create a progressive evolution. My fear was that we might fall into a redundant visual universe from one evening to another.
Regarding the exteriors, as we had started with the presence of warm garlands, I decided to light up every night in blue-green so as to create color contrast.
Were there any particular visual references you looked at for inspiration?
Alsayed: Florent immediately spoke to me about Nan Goldin's way of placing in images these scenes of lives of characters who are made up or disguised in common spaces. We also talked a lot about Almod var, whom we both greatly admire, and then more specific references such as the parade of Jessica Rabbits in Who Framed Roger Rabbit or even Tourn e by Mathieu Amalric for the scenes behind the scenes, the group energy, the entrances and exits. For the semi-final sequence, we had Rob Marshalls Chicago in mind.
We also talked about The Weeknd's Save Your Tears music video for the finale sequence. I found the light effects, the dynamics of the show, very inspiring.
What brought you to Panavision for this project?
Alsayed: Quite naturally, I turned to Panavision, which has supported me a lot since I left school. In addition, we originally wanted to shoot in anamorphic. Florent and I had experimented with anamorphic on previous films, and I wanted to shoot with Panavisions G Series, which I really like. The basic idea was to play with flares and bokeh, which would be very present in the image, in lit garlands, colored sources, etc.
We tested a number of lens series, and finally Sarah Gmach-Goethals at Panavision Paris offered me the PVintage spherical series, which I immediately liked. I really liked the softness and precision of the optics. They offer a round and very soft bokeh, which seemed very beautiful to me. Image depth and color rendition are very nice, and they are slightly golden in the highlights. I was very happy to be able to shoot with the PVintage. They suited the movie perfectly.
What inspired you to become a cinematographer, and what inspires you today?
Alsayed: To answer as honestly as possible, I believe that I have always been sensitive to the poetry of the image. I like photography, painting, the idea of conveying an emotion or a feeling with a frame, a light, an atmosphere. Often, I retain from great cinematographic works a few strong images that moved me more than the story itself. It seems strange because a film without a story wouldnt really make sense, but Im moved by an atmosphere, a look, a reflection, the light of dawn on a waking face, a gust of wind in the curtains of an open window in the middle of the night. It may seem quite banal said like that, but I am quite sensitive to the details of an image.
The profession of director of photography also has the advantage of being very close to the staging and the actors, allowing me to navigate from one universe to another and to make many artistic and human encounters which make me evolve and grow and challenge me to explore new ways of doing things. I like to move from one universe to another, from fiction to a commercial or an art film. I think I need to do as many different things as possible. It feeds me a lot.
I have always been sensitive to the world of cinema by Wong Kar-wai, Antonioni, Kalatozov, Almod var or James Gray, to name but a few. They are very different filmmakers, but they have been able to create distinguished universes with their personal aesthetics by inventing a reality specific to each of t
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
11/06/2026
Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...
The story of a shy photographer who breaks out of his shell after attending a succession of drag shows, Three Nights a Week offers an honest look behind the veil of personal identity. The movie was co-written and directed by Florent Gou lou, who imbues the story with spirit and wisdom that only experience can bring. For the production, Gou lou reteamed with cinematographer Vadim Alsayed to help ensure the director's debut feature would ring true. Here, Alsayed recounts their creative path and the support they found from Panavision Paris.
