LA Shorts International Film Festival ranks among the most prestigious and largest international short film festivals in the world. The short film ‘blur’ to be screened there is the first short film shot with Sigma’s cinema lenses.
Recently mentioned here at PVC, in one article about Sigma’s suggestion that the company may develop anamorphic lenses, ‘blur’ will be screened as part of Program 19 on Saturday, August 5th at 9:55pm PDT, during the LA Shorts International Film Festival’s 2017, which takes place August 2-10, at the Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE (August 2nd) and Laemmle NoHo7 (August 3-10). The festival, is accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (ACCT), presenters of the Canadian Screen Awards.
A total of 280 shorts from 25 countries participate in this year’s edition: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Uruguay, UK and USA.
Sigma’s film, which is presented in a session with seven other shorts, tells the story of a father’s love for photography, and how that love both binds his family – past, present and future – and, at times, drives them apart. With emotional depth, compelling imagery and impassioned narration, the film is a good example of the importance of a story.
Director Yu Yamanaka and cinematographer Yohei Tateishi selected the ARRI Amira 35mm camera paired with Sigma’s Cine High-Speed Zoom lenses to realize the creative vision of ‘blur.’ Shooting in ProRes 444, with a final output to HD (1920×1080), the Sigma 18-35mm T2 and the 50-100mm T2 lenses delivered, according to Sigma, “incredibly sharp optics and cinematic results, even when shooting wide open at an aperture of T2.0 – an aperture not often seen on cinema zoom lenses. Shooting the film at T2.0 and T4.0, the crew captured beautiful bokeh with perfect falloff and smooth skin tones, even in the film’s bleak desert locale.”
Working on a tight turnaround and within confined spaces, Yamanaka and Tateishi teamed up with Mt. MELVIL, a full-service production company located in Hollywood, California to help overcome the challenges and create the beautiful feature film quality short film.
The film has a message beyond what can be seen on screen, a message related to Sigma’s tradition in the photographic industry. The introduction to the short as if described by the son of the photographer in ‘blur’, reveals us that “Dad wasn’t exactly stylish, and neither were the photographs he took—at least on the surface. But what truth did they conceal?” Sigma goes from there to share with viewers an important message, to which the company adhered since its foundation: when people are moved, people are inspired to take photographs. And every photograph, just like every life, is amazing.