Conversations with Darius Khondji

Darius Khondji has shot films for many of the greatest directors in contemporary cinema, including: David Fincher (Se7en), James Gray (The Lost City of Z), Michael Haneke (Amour), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Roman Polanski (The Ninth Gate), Bernardo Bertolucci (Stealing Beauty), Sydney Pollack (The Interpreter), Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children), Bong Joon-ho (Okja) and Nicolas Winding Refn (Too Old to Die Young).

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From his early childhood in Iran to his cinephile origins in Paris, from his first Polaroids of New York City in the late 1970s to his training as a camera assistant, from his feature debut in France to his arrival in Hollywood, from his experiences with world-renown directors and actors to his work with artists and photographers, the book follows Khondji’s evolution as a cameraman alongside the evolution of movies and images from the 1960s to the present.

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Conversations with Darius Khondji also covers a wide range of cinematographic and technical topics — lighting, camera operating, film processing, color correcting, lens selection, digital photography and much more — in ways that are accessible and easy to grasp, allowing the reader to discover Khondji’s working methods from film to film. The book is meant to appeal to cinema lovers as much as to film and photography students, or to anyone else interested in the visual arts.

The conversations are accompanied by exclusive interviews with directors, actors and technicians with whom Khondji has collaborated over the years.

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Divided into chapters that trace the different phases of Khondji’s filmography, Conversations is illustrated with screen shots from nearly every feature he has photographed, as well as rare behind-the-scenes photos, lighting designs, storyboards, annotated screenplays and previously unpublished Polaroids.

This richly illustrated book highlights Khondji’s remarkable work while emphasizing the primordial role the cinematographer plays in the making of a film.

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Conversations with Darius Khondji is a unique publication in function and form, with a meticulously innovative design that enhances both the text and its accompanying images.

The books are printed by Ebs Editoriale Bortolazzi in Italy on Munken Kristall Rough 100gr.

Graphic design by Dune Lunel

Photographer: Quentin Guichard

ISBN 979-10-90172-01-2

CONVERSATIONS WITH

DARIUS KHONDJI / DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

WOODY ALLEN / DIRECTOR 

BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI / DIRECTOR

JAMES GRAY  / DIRECTOR

JEAN-PIERRE JEUNET / DIRECTOR

JEAN-BAPTISTE MONDINO / PHOTOGRAPHER

PHILIPPE PARRENO / ARTIST

ISABELLE HUPPERT / ACTRESS

JORG WIDMER / CAMERA OPERATOR

YVAN LUCAS / COLORIST

JEAN-VINCENT PUZOS / PRODUCTION DESIGNER

FRANS WETERRINGS / GAFFER

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jordan Mintzer is a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. Prior to that he worked for Variety. He was born in Queens, New York, and currently lives in Paris. 

“A movie bible.” VANITY FAIR

“Best Film Book of the Year.” CENTRE NATIONAL DU CINEMA (CNC)

“Best Large-Format Film Book of the Year.” FRENCH FILMS CRITICS’ UNION

“In fact, Conversations with Darius Khondji might be the first book ever published about an individual, working director of photography. Its qualities as a designer object can’t be overstated.” IGNATIY VISHNEVETSKY, MUBI

“Darius Khondji merits the elegant title of ‘Master of Light’, which the Italians like to attribute to the best cinematographers, even if he is also a ‘Master of Darkness’.” MICHEL CIMENT

“Intensely passionate and intelligently accessible, this veritable nosedive into moviemaking through the career of one of cinematography’s most exciting practitioners is a little masterpiece on paper.”
THOMAS AÏDAN, 7E OBSESSION

“Conversations with Darius Khondji is the kind of book for which the adjective ‘rich’ is almost inadequate.” MAXIMILIEN PIERRETTE, ALLOCINÉ

 “Intelligently illustrated, this coffee-table book discusses the cinematographer’s collaboration with the greatest auteurs of our time (from David Fincher to Woody Allen) while constantly delving into questions of technique and style.” TÉLÉRAMA

 
“Conversations with Darius Khondji examines both the man and his profession, inviting us to understand how creating images involves the constant fusion of technique and art — a ‘gray zone’ according to author Jordan Mintzer.” QUENTIN BILLET-GARIN, LES INROCKS

“If your appreciation of cinema goes deeper than simply being a spectator and you’re interested in learning more about how the magic is made, this is the book for you.” MARK RABINOWITZ, PASTE MAGAZINE

“Jordan Mintzer conducted a career-spanning interview with the cinematographer and certain of his most illustrious collaborators, resulting in a book that reflects Darius Khondji’s impact on the craft and reveals his artistic and personal origins.” TIMÉ ZOPPÉ, TROISCOULEURS

“Mintzer and Khondji offer us one of the greatest ever books on the cinematography, joining the ranks of John Alton’s Painting With Light, Vittorio Storaro’s Scrivere con la luce and Henri Alekan’s Des lumières et des ombres. Conversations with Darius Khondji is much more than just a coffee-table book.” CHRISTIAN VIVIANI, POSITIF