American Cinematographer - April 2009 - (Page 10) Short Takes A Cinematographer Directs Patiences by Iain Stasukevich A woman (Davina Stewart) passes the time while awaiting a lover in the short film Patiences, directed and shot by Peter Wunstorf, ASC. atiences begins with a static wide shot on a country road as a vintage British auto pulls up to the front of a rustic cabin. It’s autumn, and the reddish-gold shade of leaves in the trees and on the ground reflect the changing P of the seasons. A woman (Davina Stewart) gets out of the car and enters the cabin. She appears to be waiting for someone, and she snaps a series of Polaroids and stretches out on the bed to pass the time. Eventually, she closes up the cabin and leaves. One of the things that stands out about Patiences, a title that refers to the European name for the game Solitaire, is how it takes its time to unfold. There is no dialogue, and even at a trim seven minutes, the moments seem to stretch out in a relaxed, sensual way. Every action and every shot has a purpose. It makes for a keenly visual experience; this comes as no surprise because it was directed by a cinematographer, Peter Wunstorf, ASC, who also shot it. Wunstorf met Patiences screenwriter Sylvia Petit at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992, and while the two stayed in touch, Petit wrote the script for what would become Wunstorf’s directorial debut. He recalls his first impression of her script: “I thought it was one of the best scripts I’d ever read. It had no dialogue, just descriptions of action and sound, almost like a shot list. I could picture the movie in my head right away.” But it was another 12 years before he could film it. While working as the second-unit cinematographer on Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, Wunstorf shared the Patiences script with Karen Redford, Lee’s personal assistant, and she agreed to co-produce it. In order to get the film made, Wunstorf had to call in a few favors; Kodak provided the film stock, Vision 500T 5279, and Panavision Vancouver provided the camera package, an Arri BL-4 and Zeiss Superspeed prime lenses. “They were incredibly generous,” says Wunstorf. The production also benefited from the crucial financial support of the National Film Board of Canada and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Production finally got underway in September 2006. Principal photogra- 10 April 2009 Photos by Dan Power and Bill Minsky, courtesy of Peter Wunstorf.
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