American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 16

Left: Ruben Impens, SBC frames a shot. Right: Cinematographer Kira Kelly on set for the upcoming feature Skin in the Game.

Ruben Impens, SBC
Ruben Impens, SBC, also from
Belgium, visited a film set as a teenager and
immediately knew that he wanted to participate in making movies. "At that point I
didn't know I wanted to be a director of
photography - I just knew that I was interested in filmmaking," he recalls. He enrolled
at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent,
where his first year was spent studying both
directing and still photography. "It was kind
of a strange situation that the school didn't
really have a cinematography program. It's
mostly for directors, still photographers and
other artists - design, sculpture and that

kind of thing."
While still in school, Impens began
working as a clapper loader for director of
photography Walther Vanden Ende, who
became a mentor along with another
Belgian cameraman, Jan Vancaillie, SBC. He
worked as a focus puller for several years
while shooting footage on the side, and ultimately found a valuable partner in director
Felix Van Groeningen. Their film The Broken
Circle Breakdown was nominated for a Best
Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2014,
though Impens is more partial to their prior
collaboration, The Misfortunates. "That was
the first time I thought to myself, 'Maybe
I'm not bad at cinematography,'" he says
with a laugh. "It's a movie with a lot of
flashbacks and different time periods, and
we shot it digitally but treated it with different looks for different sections - blackand-white, grain, etc. When we screened it
and people asked what different film stocks
we used, I knew we had done something
right, because we didn't use film at all - it

On advising a cinematographer:
"You don't want to force anybody to take a project; you can only give
your opinion or your perspective. That's what you're there for. You never
want it to result in an awkward relationship if somebody doesn't take your
advice. For me, everything is based on, 'Is this the right project for the
cinematographer?' You have to take the money away and just look at the
creative aspects, the client, and the director as well."
- Kristen Tolle-Billings, Worldwide Production Agency

16

February 2017

American Cinematographer

was all shot on the Red One."
Impens adds that he "likes film a lot,
but in a small country like Belgium, our
budgets are low and the film stock can
become a big part of the budget - 15
percent of your money goes to processing
and stock." Currently Impens hopes to
work on Van Groeningen's next project, a
film he's developing to shoot in America.
"At this point I think I've done something
like 15 features, so I'm becoming a little
more selective in terms of the scripts," he
says. "I really want to focus on the most
challenging stories possible."
Kira Kelly
Like many of the cinematographers
profiled in this piece, Kira Kelly is comfortable in a variety of genres and styles, jumping back and forth between documentary
and narrative features, as well as music
videos and commercials. She recently
garnered acclaim for Ava DuVernay's 13th,
a powerful documentary about mass incarceration. "I'm beyond proud of that
movie," she says, noting that she shared
cinematography duties on the project with
Hans Charles.
Kelly worked as a gaffer in New York
City after discovering her passion for the
camera department in film school. "In high
school I loved movies, but I couldn't have
told you the difference between a director
and a producer," she recalls. "I went to

Impens photo courtesy of the filmmaker. Kelly photo by Howard Barish.

teamed with production designer Arad
Sawat and supervising art director Ian Bailie
to achieve that plan, and is quick to praise
his collaborators on all of his projects. That
said, he singles out one partner as most
deserving of the credit for his work: "My
wife supports me all the way. That is the
main reason I can do what I love."



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2017

Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 1
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 2
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - Contents
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 4
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 5
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 6
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 7
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 8
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 9
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 10
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 11
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 12
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 13
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 14
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 15
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 16
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 17
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 18
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 19
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 20
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 21
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 22
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 23
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 24
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 25
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 26
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 27
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 28
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 29
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 30
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 31
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 32
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 33
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 34
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 35
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 36
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - A
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - B
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 37
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 38
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 39
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 40
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 41
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 42
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 43
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 44
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 45
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 46
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 47
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 48
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 49
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 50
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 51
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 52
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 53
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - I1
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - I2
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - I3
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - I4
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - I5
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - I6
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 54
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 55
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 56
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 57
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 58
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American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 60
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American Cinematographer - February 2017 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - February 2017 - Cover4
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