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When Leila’s (Leila Mohammadi) Iranian-American family gathers in New York for her father’s heart transplant surgery, the secret she’s been keeping is unceremoniously exposed. What she didn’t expect, however, was to learn how much her own life paralleled that of her mother Shireen (Niusha Noor) decades earlier, causing Leila to further appreciate the nuances of her dual identity. Set between two different countries and eras, Mariam Keshavartz’s second film The Persian version it comes from a deeply personal place.
Cinematographer André Jäger discusses how he got involved with the shoot and the challenges he and Keshavarz faced when choosing the perfect lens.
See all the answers to our annual Sundance Filmmaker Interviews here.
director: How and why did you end up cinematographer on your film? What were the factors and qualities that led to your being hired for this job?
hunter: In the fall of 2021, I photographed On the surface, a film by Turkish-American director Aslihan Yunaldi, who is a good friend of Mariam Keshavarz. Mariam saw the first rough cut of this film, liked the cinematography and contacted me. The fact that I had already shot several films in Turkey and was familiar with the work there might also have influenced her decision. It was one of those serendipitous moments in life when I think everything fell into place. After Mariam sent me her incredible script, we had a series of conversations to get to know each other and figure out how we wanted to tell the story.
director: What were your artistic goals for this film and how did you realize them? How did you want your cinematography to enhance the film’s storytelling and treatment of its characters?
hunter: Since we’re telling a story that takes place over several decades, I originally wanted to separate those decades by creating a unique look for each decade. But Mariam preferred to keep a consistent look throughout the film to highlight the similarities between Shireen and Leila. It made sense to me. So we decided to tell the story in a more consistent visual style and differentiate the different eras by their color palettes. Mariam and I knew we were going to tell the story mostly using a handheld computer and Steadicam. We wanted to create an atmosphere of constant movement and anxiety and only choose sticks or subtle puppet movements at selected moments to slow down the pace of the film.
director: Were there any specific influences on your cinematography, whether it was other films, visual art, photography or anything else?
hunter: There were many different references that we exchanged during the pre-production phase, everything from films, contemporary art, photographs, historical Persian paintings or classical works of art. And we specifically looked at images and compositions that capture larger groups of people. For example Punch-Drunk Love by Paul Thomas Anderson or Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums served as a guide when it came to capturing a large family. One of the biggest inspirations was the photos of Mariam’s family from all the different decades.
director: What were the biggest challenges posed by the production for these purposes?
hunter: For me, the biggest challenge was the fact that it was such a personal story that we tried to tell. This is the story of Mariam and her family, and of course you want to be as close as possible to how she and her mother actually remember things. On the other hand, you want to put your own vision into it. Finding the right balance was a great challenge and a great experience.
director: What camera did you shoot with? Why did you choose the camera you did? What lenses did you use?
hunter: We shot with an ARRI ALEXA MINI in 3.4 ARRIRAW. Shooting handheld and Steadicam on location most of the time, I knew from a very early stage that the MINI would be the perfect tool for us. Choosing the perfect lens was obviously the bigger challenge for us. Since our story takes place in different decades, I intended to shoot anamorphic because of the timeless look and other characteristics they provide. One of the things Mariam kept repeating throughout the production phase was that we need to embrace imperfection. So it made even more sense for me to bet on anamorphic lenses. Especially their imperfection, such as their susceptibility to eruptions, interested me most. But after testing a bunch of lenses (sphere and anamorphic) on different cameras, we felt anamorphic wouldn’t be the right choice for our needs. We needed a more versatile set of lenses. Mariam looked at the results and we discussed what we liked and what we didn’t. The COOKE S7 with their natural looking, smooth focus shift combined with the ALEXA MINI was what excited us the most. Especially the way the COOKE S7 captures different types of skin tones and their natural rendering convinced us. Of course, choosing the S7 is a bit at odds with my original plan to have a small and light camera. So we took a set of COOKE S4 along with us. They match the S7 perfectly and so I can use them for smaller cameras when needed. There are also some slow motion shots that we shot on the SONY VENICE.
director: Describe your approach to lighting.
hunter: Since magical realism plays a big part in the story, I wanted to incorporate that into our lighting approach as well. In order to combine the different storylines, I wanted a natural approach that looked realistic while still having a subtle poetic touch. For example, in rural Iran in the 1960s, there was no electricity, so we had to use natural light sources. We also had quite a few people in the frame at times, which forced us to create a lighting setup that allowed us to capture each character as well as possible while remaining as flexible as possible.
director: What was the hardest scene to pull off and why? And how did you do it?
hunter: The biggest challenge was definitely the scene that captured the decisive moment in the life of the young Shireen (Kamand Shafieysabet). To give Kamand the right kind of emotional space, Mariam knew she had to create an intimate environment. We had a closed set where only Mariam, the actors and I were present. It was very emotional for each of us. In the end, the scene turned out to be quite good and Kamand’s performance is simply breathtaking.
director: Finally, describe the ending of the film. How much of your look was “baked in” versus realized in DI?
hunter: I used four different LUTs throughout the shoot for our different needs. Because we decided to split the decades using different color palettes, there was already a “baked” look. At the same time, shooting in ARRIRAW allowed me to be flexible in post and make subtle changes when needed. Post-production took place at BASIS BERLIN. Our colorist was Philip Orgasa, who has a very distinctive approach and is a very nice person to work with. He was a great support to me throughout the ranking process.
TECHNICAL BOX
Movie Title: The Persian version
Camera: ARRI ALEXA MINI
lenses: COOKE S7i
Lighting: Tungsten, HMI, LED, Available light
processing: 3.4K I REACHED
Color Gradation: Philip Orgasa in BASIS BERLIN (DaVinci Resolve)
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