Page 33 - Fujifilm Exposure_37 Candy_ok

“After our first film in Pakistan, we’d made many friends there. It was nice to meet up again as I’d always wanted to travel back there but, of course, the actual circumstances of the film weren’t very pleasant and, in a way, I wish we hadn’t had to make a film like this.” Among some of the film’s stranger recreations, in locations as varied as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Kabul, was building Guantanamo prison sets on a military base in Tehran.
Working in so many formats has given Zyskind a chance to muse about the differences.” Yes, I shoot a lot on HD and DV. It’s so much easier shoot- ing on film compared with, say, HD, which is almost like shooting on rever- sal film. If you’re panning around a window area to somewhere in the cor- ner, you have to adjust the stop on HD; on film, you have the flexibility to see more. Some people say it’s easier to shoot on HD, but I don’t actually believe that.”
When Zyskind started out with Lars von Trier, did he have to espouse the famous Dogme rules which had been formulated in 1995 by the direc- tor and others to perpetuate filmmak- ing “purity”?
These didn’t, Zyskind suggests, really apply in the case of a project like Dancer In the Dark. However, he notes, “I’d say Michael Winterbottom was more Dogme – that’s filmmaking stripped to its bare essentials. He likes to be able to turn round and shoot 360 degrees as much as possible, doesn’t make rehearsals, and we have to find a way of lighting to incorporate into the set, so we shoot as much as we can with natural light.”
Working with Winterbottom has, to date, taken Zyskind on an incredi- ble journey both in terms of the places visited and the films themselves. “Of course, it’s hard work and difficult, even frustrating sometimes. But you usually forget about all that when you see the results.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
Mister Lonely was originated on 35mm Fujicolor Eterna 500T 8573, Reala 500D 8592, Super F-64-D 8522 and 16mm Eterna 250D 8663; A Mighty Heart was partly originated on 35mm Fujicolor Eterna 250D 8563
Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 31