January 8, 2025

Media and the Munich massacre: September 5 DP Markus Förderer

The film September 5 is the story of the ABC Sports broadcasting team covering the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It was the first Olympics to be broadcast live, when Israeli Olympians were taken hostage at the Olympic Village by Palestinian terrorists. The sports reporting team, initially focused on covering the games, finds themselves suddenly thrust into the role of live news reporters as the hostage situation unfolds. They have to grapple with the terrifying events while trying to inform the world about what was occuring. September 5 focuses on the pivotal role of media coverage in shaping public understanding of the crisis.

While waiting for financing for September 5, cinematographer Markus Förderer and director Tim Fehlbaum spent three years researching and scouting for the film. They obtained permission to shoot at the Munich Olympic village, to fully set the film in the historical context. The television studio and control room were all built on soundstages. Once September 5 was finally green-lit, Markus had only a tight two-week prep period, during which he experimented with his own lens tuning and modifications. An avid lens hobbyist, Markus took some lenses apart, adding dust, smudges and fingerprints to some of the elements to give the film an authentic period look. They shot digitally on a RED V-Raptor on two cameras, with Markus operating one of the cameras himself.

It was important to director Tim Fehlbaum to create a very claustrophobic feeling within the windowless television studio. “Tim was adamant that we only show what the characters would have seen,” Markus explains. “The TV monitors became their windows to the outside world.” The film blends original footage with real, archival news films and meticulously recreated scenes. Markus wanted the visual style to reflect the era, while maintaining a contemporary relevance. Both Markus and Fehlbaum were influenced by the look and feel of Natural Born Killers.

The use of analog technology such as flickering fluorescent lights and TV monitors became an important tool for Markus to create a state of heightened tension. “If we flicker these monitors, which we use as a key light source in the dark control room, the whole image will pulse,” Markus says. “It looked really crazy, but it was fascinating. We synced it so it looks right on camera. As the tension gets higher and higher in certain scenes, like when we see the masked man on the balcony, we dynamically ramp up the flicker frequency of our film lights.”

You can see September 5 wide in theaters January 17th.

Find Markus Forderer: Instagram @markusforderer

Check out Markus’ passion project, CINEFLARES. https://lenses.cineflares.com/

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March 6, 2023

Oscar-nominated documentary Fire of Love director Sara Dosa, editors Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput

The documentary Fire of Love, directed by Sara Dosa, takes viewers on a mesmerizing journey into the world of volcanology. The film is centered around footage filmed by French volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft, who devoted their lives to studying volcanoes and capturing their stunning beauty. Fire of Love is an intimate look into the Kraffts’ personal and professional lives, as well as their ultimate fate, tragically lost to a volcanic eruption.

Director Sara Dosa and editors Jocelyne Chaput and Erin Casper created the story almost entirely from watching 250 hours of the Kraffts’ archival footage. Fortunately, the footage was in great shape and was fun and fascinating to look through. Sara knew that she wanted to focus on the relationship between Maurice and Katia, and their love affair both with volcanoes and each other. Sara, Jocelyne and Erin also collaborated on writing the script and narration. They wanted the amazing footage to speak for itself, and kept the story tight and intimate, filling in with narration, archival interviews and stylized animation rather than shooting current interviews with those who knew them. Sara was influenced by the look of French New Wave films as a guide for the documentary. It seemed a natural fit since Maurice Krafft’s footage of volcanoes from the late 1960’s and early 70’s also were influenced by the French New Wave.

Volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft shot most of the footage themselves on 16mm film, and proved to be good cinematographers. Katia was a talented artist as well, and photographed beautiful images of volcanoes that appeared in her books. Together, they captured some of the most stunning and rare footage of volcanoes, which continue to be used by scientists to better understand them today. Fire of Love is a beautiful tribute to the Kraffts and their legacy, and a reminder of the incredible power and beauty of the natural world.

Fire of Love is currently available on Hulu and Disney+ and is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Sara Dosa won the 2023 DGA Award for Outstanding Directing for Fire of Love. Editors Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput have won an ACE Eddie award for their work on the film. 

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