Christopher Doyle, HKSC, is one of the most talented and fascinating cinematographers in the world. His intense sensitivity gives him an extraordinary talent. He knows like no other how to turn the tough reality of life into a surreal waking dream. Famous directors like Edward Land, Alejandro Jodorowski or Wong Kar-Wai among others chose Doyle to make some of the most iconic films of International Cinema. American Director Gus Van Sant recently chose Chris Doyle for Gucci’s cinematic project “Ouverture Of Something That Never Ended” he co-directed with Alessandro Michele, Creative Director at Gucci. Gus Van Sant and Chris Doyle already know each other. They made together Psycho (1998) and Paranoid Park (2007).
“APICE”, a 5 min short-film, is the first European movie shot with the new Angénieux FF Optimo Primes. Directed by Cándido Perez de Armas and photographed by Santiago Torres, Ápice is about the death of two elder people, a moving topic dealt in a very sensitive way where “you can see the souls in the camera moves”.
The famous American trucks company invested in an ambitious commercial "The Power Has Shifted" to launch its new 1500 TRX pickup truck. TRX for Tyrannosaurus Rex, the super predator of the Raptor in Jurassic Park. Why this cinematic reminder? Because its direct competitor is the Ford f-150 … Raptor!
Designed as a platform for young filmmakers to showcase their work, the 14th FIRST International Film Festival Training Camp was held in Xining, China. Jebsen Industrial, Angénieux partner for Asia Pacific, supported the event by providing the Angénieux Optimo Prime full-frame lenses to the filming of its short film “37°2”, directed by Mei Liying and shot by Zhou Zijie. The film is the first project in Asia to put the lenses on the field. Director of Photography Zhou Zijie started out filming documentaries with VICE. Later, by chance, he filmed a music video and found himself in the commercial advertising industry. With several TVCs under his belt, he is now dedicated to film production. “The performance of Angénieux lenses in general are very stable. Its zoom lenses have excellent distortion and image control. They can be used together with lenses from other mainstream brands and they have high compatibility in the post-production phase” Zhou shared his impression of the Angénieux lenses.
Lens technology is progressively adapting to dynamic industry trends of motion pictures. Mindful of these rapid changes, today’s filmmakers are pursuing high-quality cinematic looks armed with tools built for speed, versatility, and cost-efficiency.
May 23, 2019, Cannes Film Festival : one year to the day, Angénieux went Prime presenting the Optimo F40, first lens of a series of 12 Full Frame lenses, the future Optimo Prime Series. This major announcement was made in presence of Band Pro Film & Digital Inc, partner of the project with Angénieux and Jebsen Industrial Technology Co Ltd, and in front of rental companies, distributors and cinematographers who were in Cannes to attend the “7th edition of the Pierre Angenieux Excellens in Cinematography”
For his entire career, Denny Clairmont was a big fan of Angénieux and a great support. In this 2015 interview, this legend of the industry tells his friend Jon Fauer, Film & Digital Times, how Angénieux was part of his life for decades.
After the F21 last week, the Angénieux team is pleased to present the first F50 lens of the Optimo Prime Series. The Full Frame series which was presented last year at the Cannes Film Festival and at Cinegear generated much enthusiasm and is highly expected by cinematographers and rentals.
The first pieces of the series are expected to be delivered to customers during Q3 this year. In the meantime, and despite new working conditions, the production teams are working hard to respect the planning and form the first Silver set (F21, 28, 40, 50, 75, and 135). We are just one lens away since only the F75 is missing. Cinematographers will be able to try the Silver set when shootings start again.
The Optimo Prime series means a return to the prime market for the French brand since Angénieux had been dedicating its production to zoom lenses only for decades. However, it is like a “return to the sources” since Pierre Angénieux actually started with prime lenses before making zooms. If you are interested in the incredible story of the Angénieux brand, we recommend the 2019 Angénieux book called Angénieux and Cinema, From Light to Image, available from major bookstores, commercial sites or the Angénieux e-shop at www.angénieux.com.
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One particularly fruitful collaboration of recent cinema has been Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles and Uruguay born Cinematographer Cesar Charlone. Fernando Meirelles and Cesar Charlone have collaborated since 2002. They made together City of God (2002), The Constant Gardener (2005), Blindness (2008), and recently The Two Popes (2019) – a Netflix production. All movies have been highly acclaimed for that. For The Two Popes , Angenieux Optimo zoom lenses were on set most of the time. Cesar Charlone graciously accepted to tell us more about his experience.
« Les Misérables » tells the story of the suburbs, an area that French film director Ladj Ly knows well. He lived in Montfermeil, a suburban neighborhood outside of Paris. “Les Misérables” is a long-matured first feature film. The documentaries he did before were just the path to this movie. After the Prix du Jury at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the film was selected to represent France at the 2020 Oscars, and nominated by the Academy in the Best International Feature Film category. Director of Photography Julien Poupard (AFC) shot the entire film using only Angenieux zoom lenses.
