December / 2009

Deluxe Screening Series:
Northern Lights and Unforgiven Northern Lights and Unforgiven

by Don Angus

The Deluxe Cinematography Series of motion picture screenings, introduced in person by each production's DOP, continued in October with viewing and Q&A sessions in Toronto, October 8, and Vancouver, October 18. First up was the new feature-length documentary Northern Lights by writer/producer/director/DOP Antonio Galloro csc, "celebrating the spirit and success of Canadian cinematography." (See CSC News, October 2008.)

Northern Lights is a parade of individual Canadian cinematographers, well lit and professionally interviewed by a long list of camera operators under the supervision of Galloro and fellow executive producers Jeremy Hood and Jack Mosor. This 83-minute documentary, while perhaps lacking connection to and appeal for the average cinemagoer, makes even the humblest shooter swell with pride. It captures the cinematographer's love of his/her profession and the ongoing thrill of making moving images come to life on screen. The screening room at Deluxe Toronto was filled by 100 to 150 guests, some of whom appeared in the film. At the close of the piece, the CSC - a supporter but not a funder of the film - is paid tribute by several cinematographers.

As the film opens, the question that has obviously been asked is: "What is cinematography to you?" "Magic," Ousama Rawi csc, bsc tells the camera. "That's what I feel cinematography is." "Vision," adds James Jeffrey csc. "Cinematography is a passion for me," says Rene Ohashi csc, asc. "It's very much a way of seeing." "It's given me a good life," says Ron Stannett csc. "Rewarding, there's the word."

In all, 40 cinematographers tell how they got into the movie business; how they got bitten by the camera bug; what some of their biggest challenges and their most rewarding experiences have been; and why they belong to and support the CSC. There are only two women cinematographers in the film - CSC President Joan Hutton csc and Kim Derko csc. Director Sarah Polley (Away from Her) tells the camera, "it's incredible to me that Kim [with whom she has worked] is one of so few female cinematographers. It's just such an embarrassment, actually, that the film industry is so far behind so many other industries in terms of representing women." Atom Egoyan and Norman Jewison are other Canadian directors who appear in the film.

Out on the West Coast, a Sunday matinee featured Clint Eastwood's 1992 best picture Oscar winner, Unforgiven, with an introduction by Jack Green asc, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the western drama. Green was in Vancouver filming Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Greg Middleton csc moderated the Q&A session. Suzanne Thompson, director of sales and marketing at Deluxe Vancouver, said 125 people attended the October 18 matinee. Malpaso Productions (Clint Eastwood's company) granted the use of their personal 35-mm print of Unforgiven. Thompson said Green recognized several in the audience who had worked on Unforgiven when it was shot in Calgary some 18 years ago.

At the time of its release, Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times: "The film reflects a passing era even in its visual style. The opening shot is of a house, a tree, and a man at a graveside. The sun is setting, on this man and the era he represents. Many of the film's exteriors are widescreen compositions showing the vastness of the land. The daytime interiors, on the other hand, are always strongly backlit, the bright sun pouring in through windows so that the figures inside are dark and sometimes hard to see. Living indoors in a civilized style has made these people distinct."

Greg Middleton csc with Jack Green asc.

Todd McCarthy, in his Variety review, said: "Technically, [the] film is superior. Vet production designer Henry Bumstead has designed a distinctive old Western town, and lenser Jack N. Green's widescreen images have a natural, unforced beauty that imaginatively make use of the mostly flat expanses of the Alberta locations. Lennie Niehaus's lovely score is mournful and melodious."

Green told the screening audience that he got started in cinematography by taking a little off the top. He was working in his father's and uncle's barber shop in his twenties when a client, who happened to be a director of photography, peaked his interest and brought him out as a part-time assistant. The scissors were soon history.

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