Gaza-Set Cannes ACID Selected Fatma Hassona Documentary ‘Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' Boarded by Cercamon (EXCLUSIVE)
The documentary is set to make its world premiere in the ACID program at next month's Cannes Film Festival.
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The feature offers an intimate, first-hand look at life under siege in Gaza through video calls between Farsi and young Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona. In a tragic turn of events, Hassona was killed in an Israeli missile strike on her home just one day after the film's Cannes selection was announced.
Through raw footage and personal testimony, 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' documents daily life during the conflict through the perspective of a generation trapped in what the filmmakers describe as an endless cycle of war.
'We were deeply moved by the extraordinary courage and resilience captured in this film,' said Sebastien Chesneau, partner at Cercamon. 'Sepideh Farsi's work offers not only a window into Gaza but also a profound testimony to hope, dignity, and the human spirit in the darkest moments of life. We are honoured to represent this essential and urgent documentary and to bring Fatma's voice to audiences around the world.'
Farsi, whose previous works include 'The Siren' (Berlinale), 'Red Rose' (TIFF) and 'Tehran Without Permission' (Locarno), described the genesis of the project: 'This film was born out of my urgent need to find out how people are surviving in Gaza. My connection with Fatem [as Fatma was known to her friends] was a miracle, through which a deep connection developed through our year-long conversations. Her bravery and humanity transcended every moment we shared.'
She added, 'The film is a tribute to her, and to all civilians trapped by war, yet refusing to give up their dreams. I am extremely happy to collaborate with Cercamon in order to share Fatem's story widely and meaningfully.'
'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' is produced by Rêves d'Eau Productions in co-production with 24images. The documentary combines personal testimony with real-time footage and poetic reflection to capture life amid destruction.
Dubai-based Cercamon, founded in 2014 by veteran international sales agent Sébastien Chesneau, specializes in distinctive films from emerging and established directors. The company handles a curated slate of up to eight features annually, focusing on titles that blend art-house sensibility with global market appeal. The company's name means 'world searcher,' reflecting its mission to support unique voices in contemporary cinema worldwide.
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Hamilton Spectator
42 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
What is the song of the summer? There's no obvious choice this year, but these 11 tracks are in the running
Selecting the 'song of the summer' will always be a subjective exercise, though typically there are a handful of artists who manage to capture the overarching vibe or mood of the season. Take last summer, which featured a battle royale between the pop girlies — Charli XCX , Sabrina Carpenter , Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan — plus a wild card contender in a newly invigorated Kendrick Lamar. This year feels markedly different. The pop girlies have mostly gone silent and, while Drake is attempting to stage a comeback, the charts are currently congested by a glut of bland bro-country and multiple hits that are over a year old. That's not to say there is a lack of interesting new music — just last week music fans were treated to a stellar release from elder hip-hop statesmen Clipse, plus a refreshingly unburdened surprise album from Justin Bieber . But music fans and the cultural zeitgeist seem to be remarkably siloed this year, preventing any obvious single song or artist from emerging as a monocultural force. That won't stop of us from giving it a go, though. Here are the songs of the summer, as chosen by the Star's cohort of music experts and contributing critics. As soon as the clock strikes end of May, so begins the parade of pop stars trying to stake their claim on the song of the summer. These efforts are often blatant — a paint-by-numbers repackaging of what's worked in the past. But if you pass me the aux at any point between now and Sept. 21, I'll be jumping the queue with 'Catching Feelings' by Christine and the Queens and French disco legend Cerrone — a pairing that skirts the artificial and heads straight for the visceral. Summer is the season for crushes. For DM slips, will-they-won't-they banter, day dates that stretch into night dates and meet cutes-turned-speed dials. 'Catching Feelings' translates this exact seasonal energy into an irresistibly danceable, '80s-coded banger. Set against our current apocalyptic political backdrop, the track offers a supercharged, synth-fuelled argument for seizing the day — and your crush — and heading straight for the dance floor. — Emilie Hanskamp, Toronto-based music journalist and producer 'The destruction of Palestine is breaking the world,' journalist Moustafa Bayoumi wrote in a recent essay detailing how the mechanisms of power and censorship have provided cover for atrocities and mass killing in Gaza, thus pushing our shared moral order to the verge of collapse. The essay captures a gnawing, uncomfortable sentiment that has been bubbling up for months, and which — at least within the world of music — seems to have erupted into a wave of frustration and fury during this red hot summer of 2025. Across the musical spectrum, popular artists have broken their silence, whether through written statements of solidarity with Palestine ( Olivia Rodrigo , Lana Del Rey ), or through contentious acts of protest on some of the world's biggest stages ( Fontaines D.C ., Bob Vylan ). But no musical group has raged harder against the machine this summer than Kneecap, the provocative, semisatirical Irish hip-hop trio from Belfast, whose explosive (and occasionally reckless) expressions of anti-colonial fury have reinvigorated the long tradition of protest music. And, as if to cement their anti-establishment bona fides , they've also become a frequent target of political campaigns and even police investigations. But the finger-wagging has only increased the popularity of the group, who in June capped off their raucous Glastonbury set with a new song called 'The Recap,' a scorching diss track that doubles down on their support for Palestinian liberation, while defiantly taunting the British officials who attempted to silence their dissent. Politics aside, 'The Recap' is also a reminder that Kneecap's music — like the very best protest music — is a ton of fun . The track opens with a rumbling bass line and driving punk drums, over which Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí take turns rapping in a furious patois of Irish and English. Then the song quickly shifts gears, as a cacophony of blistering breakbeats and screeching synths explodes like a wayward blast of fireworks to the face. It's somehow both ridiculous and righteous — a song that evokes the sweaty chaos of the mosh pit and the communal power of a march through the streets. — Richie Assaly, culture reporter It's appropriate that following the debauchery of last year's ' Brat summer ,' for 2025 we're on the comedown with Haim's breakup album, 'I Quit.' It's the morning after, we're rethinking (or regretting) our choices and wondering how to move forward while nursing a big headache. The trio's lead single, 'Relationships,' is a 3:25-minute lament (summer bops are short 'n' sweet, after all) on modern dating, carried by Danielle Haim's breezy vocals and anchored by simple percussion and sobering piano chords. There's no time for euphemisms or wordplay, the song simply and repeatedly states the frustrations of 'f—kin' relationships.' When paired with the music video, reminiscent of a late '90s/early '00s Gap campaign (as someone who worked at one at the time, I can smell the Dream perfume wafting through the screen), the song is more subdued than last year's fist-pumping anthems but, considering everything happening right now, we could use a moment of clarity. — Karon Liu, Star food reporter I've been travelling a lot this year and discovering tons of new music along the way. But a recent trip to London has reignited my love for the city's garage and hip-hop scenes. I'm not alone — it seems like the world also rediscovered its appreciation for Skepta, arguably the most important U.K. hip-hop artist ever, after he jumped in last month to close Glastonbury with just a few hours' notice. That helps explain why Fred Again's 'Victory Lap' has been in constant rotation since it dropped in June. A cross-genre blitz of electronic, dubstep and grime, it's an infectious shot of adrenalin and an earworm, designed less for Grandpa's cottage barbecues and more for questionably sweaty, late-night warehouse raves after all the Sabrina Carpenter fans have gone to bed. It's an anthem for anyone having a summer lived out of a suitcase and on the move. — Vernon Ayiku, Toronto-based music journalist One of the more heartening developments in the rather disheartening summer of 2025 is that Wet Leg didn't succumb to the 'one great album then straight to the dustbin' curse that's befallen so many wonderful-out-of-the-gate U.K. bands before them — from the Sex Pistols to the La's to Elastica to Ikara Colt — when their second record, 'Moisturizer,' finally landed a week ago. No, the unfailingly saucy Isle of Wight duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers — now a proper five-piece band featuring touring members Henry Holmes, Josh Mobaraki and Ellis Durand — has come back hard, and the first sign of just how hard arrived this past April in the form of 'Catch These Fists.' An altogether stinging middle finger to drunken creepos who insist on harassing women late at night in the clubs, this beefy banger features queer-identifying singer Teasdale staring her would-be suitor in the face while he ruins a ketamine-soaked night out on the dance floor, declaring, ' I just threw up in my mouth / When (you) just tried to ask me out / Yeah, don't approach me / I just wanna dance with my friends. ' And this after we've already been treated to one of the most riff-tastic and utterly satisfying choruses that Veruca Salt never got around to writing back in the day: ' I know all too well just what you're like / I don't want your love, I just wanna fight.' It really does make you wanna smash all your furniture and get in a fight, as all good punk rock should. More, please, Wet Leg. More, more, more. — Ben Rayner, Toronto journalist and contributor to the Star's Culture section. The phrase 'song of the summer' traditionally conjures blissful images of open-sunroof drives, rooftop dance parties and out-of-body experiences in festival fields. But when you consider the reality of summer 2025 — lethal air-quality readings, humidity that crushes your will to live like a dropped anvil, and the general unshakable feeling that civilization is teetering on the brink of political, ecological, technological disaster — the apocalyptic art-punk of Public Health feels like a more appropriate soundtrack. Public Health are four guys from Hamilton barely in their 20s, so they've never really known a world that wasn't perpetually on fire in both the figurative and literal senses, and their recently released debut album, ' Minamata ,' is their means of seeking catharsis through chaos. True to its namesake inspiration, the album's 10-minute centrepiece sludgefeast 'Kilimanjaro' effectively resembles a long-dormant volcano slowly erupting back to life, its ominous black-cloud buildup gradually giving way to a relentless surge of magma-spewing noise that's as hypnotic as it is horrifying. So long, 'Brat summer' — say hello to 'brute summer.' — Stuart Berman, Hamilton producer for CBC Radio One's 'Commotion' and Pitchfork writer If you ever wanted to dream while awake, Quebec City's Men I Trust have just the thing to cure what ails you. The trio continuously blossoms with an irresistibly warm, lush blend of lo-fi and synth-soaked electropop that goes down smooth. Though restrained, lead singer Emma Proulx's whispery vocals play brilliantly against the myriad arpeggiated guitars and blurry pads that adorn their every arrangement. Most tracks off the group's stellar sixth album, 'Equus Caballus,' could work as offbeat songs of the summer, but 'Husk' stands out as being particularly introspective and homely. Much like summer itself, it contains multitudes; it isn't gratuitously sunny, but rather an honest, provocative look at a less-than-ideal relationship that erodes as time passes. It yearns, it rolls and it grooves, all while keeping with the crystalline, gauzy patina of far more accessible pop. You don't need to think while listening to it, but you still will. — Hayden Godfrey, staff reporter If we have to bear going outside in Toronto's new normal scorching heat, let's at least do so with good tunes that capture the essence of summer. Tate McRae's 'Sports Car' ticks all the right boxes for me. The flirty, steamy song features a whispery earworm chorus and bass-heavy beat that take me back to the 2000s R&B-pop songs that dominated radio in the summertime (it's reminiscent of the Pussycat Dolls' racy R&B single 'Buttons' and Nelly Furtado's smash hit 'Promiscuous,' while embodying Britney Spears' signature breathy vocals). A good summer song allows you to feel carefree and 'Sports Car' feels like driving down the highway on a summer night 'with the windows rolled down' as the summer breeze blows through your hair, even if your whip in this economy isn't a sports car . Since releasing her third studio album, 'So Close to What,' and dominating the 2025 Juno Awards , the Calgary-born artist has secured her title as a main pop girl on the global stage, and she owns the summer anthem I anticipate to hear everywhere this season. — Asma Sahebzada, staff reporter I'm not a big fan of mgk (the artist formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly) by any definition, so colour me shocked concerning the immediate impact I experienced upon first hearing 'Cliché,' the on-again, off-again Mr. Megan Fox's rumination about bad boy desire. The reason it's so appealing is that simplicity rules the day: it starts off with an unadorned acoustic guitar lick and Kelly making a humble plea — ' Tell me, would you wait for me? ' — that turns out to be the first line of the chorus. At the 28-second mark, the drums kick in — and suddenly we're off to the races: the pop-rock anthem's irresistible hook barely changes and the vibe is one of getting into your car on a hot summer night and driving for hours with an overwhelming sense of urgency and no destination in mind. The momentum generated is of elation. Just heed this warning: this three-minute adrenalin rush will spew itself into your hippocampus when it's least expected and leave you humming it relentlessly — and that's no 'Cliché.' — Nick Krewen, Toronto contributor to the Star Aminé has morphed into the ultimate summer artist. Always a smooth and swaggering rapper, years spent alongside producer Kaytranada and now Lido have elevated his lyricism, which he adorns with ornate and bouncy production. Released in April, 'Arc De Triomphe' set the tone for summer with chopped chimes, booming drums and the pace of a U.K. garage song. It's a unique sample flip from the Streets' ' Has It Come To This ,' which reframes a British classic into a summer bop. But that's Aminé's gift — his ability to highlight things that few have the vision to see, allowing the Portland native to use Bart Simpson's signature 'ay caramba' to set up swaggering lines like ' Yeah, and her moisturizer turned my face to a merchandiser / They lips is looser, the money tied up / They face is screwed up when they see that I'm up.' That same clever connectivity sparks the idea to rhyme his name in a song about France, despite Aminé being an Ethiopian name . 'Arc De Triomphe' is a sophisticated track buoyed by production that charms you into dancing. — Démar Grant , staff reporter at the Hamilton Spectator This track by the Los Angeles-based, R&B/soul group King Pari is about summer vibes and deep reflections. Written in 2020 at the height of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, the funky guitar riffs and falsetto-soul vocals accompanied by lo-fi production reside in my head rent free. It gives off a live-in-the-moment vibe. 'Somethin' Somethin'' is the summer soundtrack for a hangout with friends or family, or solo adventures spent trying to understand deep, disruptive changes to the world around us. — Sanjeev Wignarajah, freelance music writer
Refinery29
3 hours ago
- Refinery29
'Jewellery Nails' Are The Only Accessories You'll Need This Year
All linked products are independently selected by our editors. If you purchase any of these products, we may earn a commission. Minimalist manicures will always be appealing, but as spring approaches, we've noticed a new nail trend stealing the spotlight. Enter: jewellery nails. In total antithesis to the rather dainty nail looks that we've seen prove popular in 2025 (think French glow manicures, soap nails and pixie dust shimmer, to name a few) jewellery nails are an entirely maximalist approach to manicures. We're talking rhinestone-studded, bejewelled designs with plenty of sparkle. While festival season is still a few months away, we predict that these gem-encrusted designs will only grow in popularity as we move into spring. Ahead, we've rounded up 11 of the best jewellery-inspired nail looks that have been taking over our feeds. From shimmering embellishments to statement 3D accents, these manicures are so captivating that you won't need any other accessories. Regal Rhinestones View this post on Instagram A post shared by San Sung Kim | 김산성 (@sansungnails) Intricately detailed and utterly elegant, this beautiful rhinestone set by nail artist San Sung Kim is like a work of art. Mixed Metals View this post on Instagram A post shared by Betsie (@betsiebb) Created by Retro Nails, this molten manicure on content creator Betsie is one for the maximalists. Teaming gold and silver molten settings with an eclectic array of gemstones, it's a head turner. Crystal Blooms View this post on Instagram A post shared by Courtney (@paintedbycourtney) If you want a manicure that rivals a renaissance party, then nail artist Courtney (aka @paintedbycourtney) is who you should be following. This combination of scattered crystals, hand-painted florals and rhinestone-encrusted tips is remarkable. Stiletto Sparkle View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ella Hunter (@ There might be a riotous rainbow of rhinestones at the tip of this stiletto-shaped manicure, but nail tech Ella Hunter keeps it light and refined with the simple French fade base. Diamond Daisies View this post on Instagram A post shared by P A I W A L O V E S (@paiwaloves) Florals for spring? When they're as elegant as these pearl and diamond-dusted blooms created by manicurist Paiwa Loves, they actually might be groundbreaking. Uncut Gems View this post on Instagram A post shared by Paula🕊️💌 (@colorsconpalomitaa) Taking a more naturalistic approach to the jewellery nail trend, nail artist Paula places irregularly shaped gemstones edged with molten silver on a pared-back milky manicure. Amber Tones View this post on Instagram A post shared by LE STUDIO 111 (@_lestudio.111) Created by French nail salon Le Studio 111, this chic amber-toned manicure plays with an earthy colour palette, allowing the turquoise jewellery embellishments to pop. Croc Tips View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bethany Walker - Brighton Nails And Salon Owner (@ While animal print tips are a huge trend right now, nail technician Bethany Walker is eschewing the classic prints in favour of this hand-painted croc design. Delicate gem details make the whole look even more eye-catching. Crystalline Shimmer View this post on Instagram A post shared by Melanie Graves (@overglowedit) Embracing a monochromatic approach to jewellery, Melanie Graves' silver manicure is full of sparkle, shimmer and an enormous amount of crystal bling. Pearly Queen View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eman • Nail Artist | Content Creator (@thecolornook) We're not going to pretend that jewellery nails will appeal to minimalists, but nail artist Eman 's beautiful pearly set proves that a subtle colour palette and a delicate touch can look just as impactful as a more embellished set.
Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
He's the visual genius that auteurs like Ari Aster trust. But cinematographer Darius Khondji is chasing a feeling
The day before our interview, cinematographer Darius Khondji tells me he went to see a Pablo Picasso exhibit in uptown New York City. And though he would never compare himself to the Spanish painter, Khondji says he found a kinship in the way he described his artistic practice. 'About his style, he said that he was like a chameleon, changing completely from one moment to another, from one situation to another,' Khondji, 69, recalls via Zoom. 'This is exactly how I feel. When I'm with a director, I embrace that director completely.' Backlit, with natural light coming from the large windows behind him on a recent afternoon, Khondji appears shrouded in darkness, at times like an enigmatic silhouette with a halo of sunshine around his fuzzy hair. The Iranian-born cinematographer speaks animatedly, with hand movements accentuating every effusive sentence. 'Sometimes I talk in a very impressionistic way,' Khondji says, apologetically. 'I might be confusing but I try to be just honest and say what I feel.' Khondji's eclectic resume flaunts an exceptional collection of collaborations, some of the best-looking movies of their moments: David Fincher's gruesome but gorgeous 'Seven,' Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's darkly whimsical and richly textured 'Delicatessen' and 'The City of Lost Children,' Michael Haneke's unflinching love story 'Amour,' James Gray's old-school luxurious 'The Immigrant,' the Safdie Brothers' nerve-racking and kinetic 'Uncut Gems,' and now Ari Aster's paranoid big-canvas pandemic saga 'Eddington,' in theaters Friday. Khondji stands simultaneously as a wise member of the old guard and a hopeful champion for the future of film. Sought in decades past by the likes of Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and Bernardo Bertolucci, he's now lending his lensing genius to a new generation of storytellers with ideas just as biting. 'Darius understands the human soul and he masters the tools to express it,' says filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu via email. 'All the technical choices — framing decisions, uses of color and lighting techniques — he is able to apply them, but always subordinated to the director's vision and, most importantly, to the needs of the film itself.' Khondji earned his second Oscar nomination for his work on the Mexican director's surrealist 2022 film 'Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.' The motion picture academy first acknowledged his artistry with a nod for Alan Parker's sumptuous 1996 musical 'Evita.' 'Darius is kind of a poet — everything is feeling-based with him,' says Aster via video call from Los Angeles. 'He is an intellectual but he is also decidedly not.' If you were to dissect the pivotal memories that shaped Khondji's creative mind, the array of touchstones would include a photograph of Christopher Lee as Dracula that his brother would bring him from London. Also in prime of place: an image of his older sister, Christine, whom he considers an artistic mentor. You would also find the intense orange color of persimmons squashed in his family's garden in Tehran during winter — the only sensory memory he has from his early childhood before his family moved to Paris when he was around 3 1/2 years old in the late 1950s. 'Sometimes I look at my granddaughter and grandson and say, 'OK, they are 3, almost 3 1/2, so this is the amount of language I had, but it was probably mostly in Farsi,'' he says. Khondji returned to Iran only once, as a teenager in the early 1970s, with a Super 8 camera in hand. He has been watching movies since infancy. His nanny, an avid moviegoer, would take him to the cinema with her. And later, his father, who owned movie theaters in Tehran and would source films through Europe, brought him along to Parisian screening rooms as a kid. 'These are all stories told to me and a mix of impressions and feelings of things that I remember,' Khondji explains. That visceral, heart-first way of perceiving the world around him might be the defining quality of his approach to image-making. It's always about how something feels. 'Cinema is a strong force,' he says. 'You cannot limit it only with aesthetic taste or things that you like or don't like or rules. You just have to go with the flow and give yourself to it. You need a lot of humility.' At that last thought, Khondji laughs. When he started making his own Dracula-inspired short films on Super 8 as a teenager, Khondji had little idea about the distinct roles of a film production. Slowly, he started noticing that the directors of photography for the movies he liked were often the same artists. 'I was discovering that some films looked incredible — they had a very strong atmosphere,' Khondji recalls. 'Then I found that the same name of one person was on one movie and then another movie, and I thought, 'OK, this person really is very important.'' He mentions Gregg Toland, the legendary shooter of Orson Welles' 'Citizen Kane.' But it wasn't until Khondji attended NYU for film school that he dropped his aspirations for directing and decided on becoming a cinematographer. His film exercises leaned more toward the experiential than the narrative. He refers to them as 'emotional wavelengths.' 'It's really the director and the actors that trigger my desire to shoot a movie,' says Khondji. 'The script is, of course, a great thing, but once I want to work with the director, I really trust them.' Hearing Khondji speak about directors, it's clear that he puts them in a privileged light — so much so that he makes a point of creating what he calls a 'family' around them to ensure their success. This means he ensures the director feels comfortable with the gaffer, the dolly grip, the key grip, so that there's no one on set that feels like a stranger. With Aster, for example, their bond emerged from a shared voraciousness for film. The pair had several hangouts together before a job even entered the equation. Khondji is a defender of the polarizing 'Beau Is Afraid,' his favorite of Aster's movies. 'Eddington' finally brought them together as collaborators for the first time. 'Ari and I have a common language,' he says. 'We discovered quite early on working together that we have a very similar taste for dark films, not dark in lighting but in storytelling.' While scouting locations in Aster's native New Mexico, he and Khondji came across the small town where the Coen brothers' 'No Country for Old Men' was filmed. And though they both revere that arid 2007 thriller, they wanted to get away from anything tied to it, so they pivoted again to the community of Truth or Consequences. Khondji recalls Aster describing his film, about a self-righteous sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) in a grudge match against the mayor (Pedro Pascal), as 'a European psychological thriller on American land.' For the cinematographer, the movie is 'a modern western.' 'We wanted the exterior to be very bright, like garishly bright, like the light has almost started to take off the color and the contrast a little bit because it's so bright, never bright enough,' explains Khondji about shooting in the desert. For Khondji, working Aster reminded him of his two outings with Austria's esteemed, ultra-severe Michael Haneke, with which the cinematographer made the American remake of 'Funny Games' and 'Amour,' the latter on which he discovered a 'radically different kind filmmaking' where 'everything in the set had to have a grace of realness.' ''The color is vivid in a way that it isn't in any of his other films,' says Aster about the quality that Khondji brought to 'Amour,' Haneke's Oscar-winning film. Still, after working with some of the world's most acclaimed filmmakers on features, music videos, commercials and a TV show (he shot Nicolas Winding Refn's 2019 'Too Old to Die Young' and became infatuated with the San Fernando Valley), Khondji prefers to be reinvigorated by younger artists challenging the rules. ''Uncut Gems' was like turning a page for me in filmmaking,' he says, calling out to Josh and Benny Safdie. 'These two young filmmakers were making films in a different way. And the fact that I could keep up with them — they are in their 30s — psychologically, it gave me a lot of strength.' Khondji also shot Josh Safdie's upcoming 'Marty Supreme,' out in December. Is there a visual signature that defines Khondji's work? Perhaps, even if he doesn't consciously think of it. A lushness, a preference for olive greens and blacker-than-black shadows. An intense fixation on color in general. There are also aesthetic preferences that Aster noticed from their work on 'Eddington.' 'Darius and I hate unmotivated camera movement,' Aster says. 'But there are certain things that never would've bothered me compositionally that really bothered Darius, and now they're stuck in my head. For instance, Darius hates it when you cut off somebody's leg, even if it's at the ankle. A lot of Darius's prejudices have gone into my system.' Khondji concedes to these particularities, yet he doesn't think in rigid absolutes. 'You have a rule, and then you decide this is the moment to break the rule,' he says, citing the rawness of the films of French director Maurice Pialat or how actor Harriet Andersson looks directly into the camera in Ingmar Bergman's 1953 'Summer with Monika.' He recently watched Ryan Coogler's box-office hit 'Sinners' without knowing anything about its premise beforehand. 'People who know me know that I don't like spoilers,' he says. 'I'm very cautious with film reviews. They are very important, but at the same time, I don't want to know the story.' Khondji had never seen one of Coogler's films, but was impressed. 'I really enjoyed it,' he says. 'After I watched it I wanted to know who shot the film, but I enjoyed the actors so much and I love just being a real member of the audience.' It might surprise some to learn that Khondji's initial interest in seeing a film is unrelated to how it looks or who shot it. 'When I watch a film people say, 'Oh, did you notice how it was shot?' And I don't really go for that,' he says. 'I mostly go to watch a film for the director.' These days, his wish list includes the opportunity to shoot a proper supernatural horror film (Aster might be handy to stay in touch with) and for a company to make a modern film-stock camera. Khondji is not precious about format but believes shooting on film should stay an option as it is the 'natural medium' of cinema. He tells me how much he loves going to the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. 'It's really like a shrine for me,' he says, recalling seeing Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' there on true VistaVision. 'It was an incredible emotion,' he adds. 'Like the emotion I had when I grew up with my dad, when they would take me to see big films in the cinemas where the ceiling had stars to make you dream even before the film started.' That dream is what Khondji is still chasing, in the cinema and on set.
