DP - Gordon Willis, ASC

Director - Francis Ford Coppola

US, 1972

Saturday June 6th, 9:30am

DP - Yuri Illienko

Director - Sergei Parajanov

Ukraine,1964

Friday June 5th, 9:30am

Yuri Neyman, ASC, Director of Photography and lecturer of “The History of Cinematography” at American Film Institute (AFI), Allen Daviau, ASC (Creative Supervisor of the restoration of "The Godfather"), and Todd McCarthy (Chief Film Critic at Variety) moderated the new part of the Cine Gear Expo 2009 – screening series “Pages From History of Cinematography”. Panels included distinguished art and cinema historians, cinematographers, and technologists.

Q & A with Yuri Neyman, ASC, Todd McCarthy and DP Yuri Illienko via Skype Video Chat after the screening of Illienko's film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors"

Q & A with Yuri Neyman, ASC, Todd McCarthy and Allen Daviau, ASC after the first ever screening of "The Godfather" in 4K projection.

Two very different films from two different parts of the world - one very well known worldwide, and another almost unknown in USA - were selected for this inaugural presentation of this new series for one very compelling reason: Both films are cornerstones in the evolution of camera art and craft, its might of visual expression, and the power of storytelling.

(USA, 1972, Director of Photography Gordon Willis, ASC, Director Francis Coppola)

The Godfather was restoration was performed on a 4K transfer with the help of many involved. This version of the film is the truest account of the Willis-Coppola color and tonal vision, and it was created by a Warner Bros. team led by distinguished cinematographer Alan Daviau, ASC and Robert A. Harris (archivist)

(Ukraine, 1964, Director of Photography Yuri Illienko, Director Sergey Paradjanov)

The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a cult film in many countries of the world. “It's hard to imagine how anyone could be indifferent to any of Sergey Paradzhanov's …he is still widely considered to be one of the truly great directors - comfortably on a par with Tarkovsky, Bergman, Dovzhenko, Kurosawa and a handful of others - yet in Paradzhanov's case this reputation is built on the basis of just four films: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964), Colour of Pomegranates (1968), The Legend of Suram Fortress (1984) and Ashik Kerib (1988).”

Most of the scenes are filmed by Director of Photography Yuri Illienko with a hand-held camera, often at a run, and hardly edited at all. The action takes place extremely rapidly, at times almost bewilderingly so. The extremely dynamic camera in color continues and develops further and in more visually polyphonic style traditions of spiritual teacher of Yuri Illuenko, the iconic and legendary cinematographer Sergey Urusevski who gave us one of the most visually rich film in the history of cinematography I am Cuba (USSR, 1961).

In The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors reality often melds into dream, into the colorless shades of the past. The film is highly symbolic, making frequent use of religious and folkloric images and Yuri Illienko powerfully uses color to represent many moods of the story. During Ivan's period of mourning, black and white film stock is used. In other scenes, colors are often muted, but provide a contrast to vivid use of primary colors. This color palette and extremely dynamic camera gives a sense of underlying passion and struggle against destiny.

On its release, the film's presentation contrasted with the common social realism style that had government approval. After refusing to change the film, Parajanov was soon blacklisted from Soviet cinema. Yuri Illienko became a director and created many visually unforgettable films. As per press time, we expect Illienko to take part in the panel and Q&A.