We wish this chart was more interesting to explore. Unfortunately, it’s pretty boring. Nevertheless, here is it. IndieWire continues with its fascinating tradition to reveal the cameras and lenses that shot Sundance Film Festival 2022 films. And how does it compare to the previous festivals? Let’s see, but do not expect a scoop.
Sundance Film Festival 2022
The 2022 Sundance Film Festival is taking place from January 20 to 30, 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic protocol, it was to have been a hybrid festival (a mix of in-person and virtual), but on January 5, 2022, it was announced that the in-person components would be significantly reduced in favor of a virtual festival due to the Omicron variant. BTW, the 2021 edition actually drew a total audience of more than twice as large as the typical in-person event in Park City. It had fewer feature films than usual, but because of its online nature, it saw participation from all 50 states and 120 countries. So there’s some good news when making it an online version. However, there’s nothing like an in-person event because watching movies work best together, face to face, in a big screening hall, rather than on an online platform. A hybrid festival sounds like a very smart solution though.
Main Street has always been a happening hub during Sundance.
Sundance Institute
The cameras & lenses behind
As the tradition calls, IndieWire reached out to the cinematographers behind the scripted narrative features premiering at the festival to find out which cameras and lenses they used. Y.M.Cinema Magazine has ingested that data and built a chart. First, here’s the list below:
- “After Yang”: DP – Benjamin Loeb. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Panavision Primos, Canon 8-64mm
- “Alice”: DP – Alex Disenhof. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Cooke Anamorphic Primes
- “Am I OK?”: DP – Cristina Dunlap. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Cooke Speed Panchros
- “Babysitter”: DP – Josee Deshaies. Cameras – ARRICAM LT. Lenses: Panavision Primos
- “blood”: DP – Eric Lin. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Zeiss Super Speed, Canon 300mm
- “Brian & Charles”: DP – Murren Tullett. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Leica Summicrons
- “Call Jane”: DP – Greta Zozula. Cameras – ARRIFLEX 416. Lenses – Zeiss Master Primes
- “The Cathedral”: DP: Barton Cortright. Cameras – RED Gemini. Lenses – Cooke 18-100 T3
- “Cha Cha Real Smooth“: DP – Cristina Dunlap. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Cooke S4/i, Angenieux HR 25-250 Zoom
- “Dos Estaciones“: DP – Gerardo Guerra Soriano. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Cooke Mini S4i, 300mm Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestegor, 80-200mm, Leica Vario Elmarit
- “Dual”: DP – Michael Ragen. Cameras – Sony VENICE. Lenses: Hawk V-lite 1.3x Anamorphics
- “892”: DP: Doug Emmett. Cameras – Sony VENICE. Lenses – Zeiss Supreme Primes
- “Emergency“: DP – Michael Dallatorre. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses – Panavision PanaSpeeds
- “Emily The Criminal“: DP – Jeff Bierman. Cameras – Sony VENICE. Lenses – Kowa Cine Prominar Spherical
- “Every Day in Kaimukī“: DP – Chapin Hall. Cameras – Sony PXW-FX9. Lenses – Atlas Orion
- “Gentle“: DP – Zágon Nagy. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: ARRI Master Primes
- “Girl Picture“: DP – Jarmo Kiuru. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses: Samyang XEEN Cine FF
- “God’s Country”: DP – Andrew Wheeler. Cameras – Panavision DXL2. Lenses – Panavision Panaspeeds
- “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande“: DP – Bryan Mason. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA 65. Lenses – ARRI DNA Primes
- “Hatching“: DP – Jarkko T. Laine. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – ARRI Master Primes
- “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul“: DP: Alan Gwizdowski. Cameras – RED Gemini. Lenses – Fujinon Cabrio 19-90 and 85-300, Panavision Primo 70 Spherical, Panavision T-Series Anamorphic
- “Leonor Will Never Die“: DP – Carlos Mauricio. Cameras – Panasonic EVA-1 and RED Epic. Lenses – Dalsa Leica 19mm prime, Zeiss Super Speeds, and an Angenieux 25-205mm zoom
- “Living“: DP – Jamie D Ramsay. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Zeiss Supreme Primes
- “A Love Song”: DP – Alfonso Herrera Salcedo. Cameras: ARRIFLEX 416. Lenses – Cooke SK4, Cooke S4/i
- “Mars One“: DP – Leonardo Feliciano. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Zeiss Standard Speed 2.1
- “Master“: DP – Charlotte Hornsby. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – ARRI Master Anamorphics, Angenieux 24-290mm
- “Nanny”: DP – Rina Yang. Cameras – Sony VENICE. Lenses – Panavision Ultra Panatar, Panavision H-series
- “Neptune Frost“: DP – Anisia Uzeyman. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Lomo Illumina S35
- “Palm Trees and Power Lines“: DP – Chananun Chotrungroj. Cameras – Panavision DXL. Lenses – Panavision Ultra Speeds
- “Piggy”: DP – Rita Noriega. Cameras – RED Monstro 8K VV. Lenses – Cooke Anamorphic Special Flare=
- “Sharp Stick“: DP – Ashley Connor. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Cooke S4/i
- “Something in the Dirt“: DP – Aaron Moorhead. Cameras – RED Monstro VV. Lenses – Zeiss CP2
- “Speak No Evil”: DP: Erik Molberg Hansen. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses – Canon K35 Primes, Leica R
- “Utama“: DP – Bárbara Alvarez. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses – Zeiss Super Speed
- “Watcher“: DP – Benjamin Kirk. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses – Vantage One4
- “When You Finish Saving the World“: DP – Benjamin Loeb. Cameras – ARRI 416. Lenses – Panavision Primos
- “You Won’t Be Alone“: DP – Matthew Chuang. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini, RED Komodo. Lenses – Cooke Speed Panchros
Sundance Film Festival 2022 – Camera Chart
Explore the chart based on that data:
Discussion
When we said that the chart is boring, we meant to it. These camera charts derived from independent filmmakers’ data are supposed to be more versatile when compared to high-budget projects like Oscars, Emmy, and so on. However, it looks very much the same as the Academy Awards camera charts. Moreover, it reminds the camera charts of Sundance Film Festival 2021 and 2020. Explore them below:
The ARRI ALEXA Mini always takes the lead, following the LF version (regular or Mini) and then the Sony VENICE. The more desired film camera is almost always the ARRIFLEX 416 or the ARRICAM LT. Thus, this data seems to be banal, although in 2021 and 2020 there was a higher level of versatility due to Canon (C300) and Blackmagic (URSA and Pocket). Unfortunately, it appears that independent filmmakers prefer to get their hands on high-end cinema cameras (ARRI, RED, Sony, Panavision). We do hope that in the documentary section we’ll see some Canons and other manufacturers (note that these are the scripted narrative features). We’re eagerly waiting for a bunch of interviews of DPs that shot films premiered at Sundance 2022 with Canon cameras. By the way, even the link to IndieWire’s page (https://www.indiewire.com/feature/film-cameras-sundance-ARRI-ALEXA-1234692598) says it all 🙂
The big question is, so are entries accepted or denied based on what camera was used? Something is off here, I love Arri but Cameras shouldn’t decide who wins, I thought filmmaking was about telling the story.
It was not the point here of which camera should decide what movie wins. What choice of camera to use does not decide a movie’s success. This was only an objective observation of which cameras were used most in the list of movies cited. That’s all.
How did you jump to such a conclusion to ask such a question?