IEC
#1: Courtesy of Willy Kurant [2013]
#2: From interview [Cinémathèque française, 2013]
#3: [Top]
Born: 15 February 1934, Liège [Luik], Belgium.
Died: 1 May 2021, Paris, France.
Career: 'I was undecided between still and motion picture photography until I took a night class at a small film school in France. During the days, I worked at a research lab. Part of my job was loading and unloading cameras and processing films used in tests. In 1954, I went to the Belgian Congo with a documentary crew for six months. I worked on 10 films as an assistant and sometimes I operated a second camera. They were 35mm films produced for the Ministry of Colonies as propaganda. I was a news cameraman for Belgian TV. During the World Fair in Brussels in 1958, I saw a German film crew with a synch motor on an Arriflex camera and a portable sound recorder. I decided to buy an Arriflex camera, an entire set of lenses and one of those sound recorders. I was freelancing for a pool of French, Belgian and Swiss TV stations. I was shooting cinéma-vérité style. I could place the sound recorder on the ground, give the mike to a reporter and roam freely. I also worked for a program on French TV and I filmed dramatic interludes - very nice looking five-minute pieces - that ran between other TV programs. I covered a few wars including the one in Vietnam and I went to the Congo again during the war for independence. In 1957, I got a scholarship from the British Council and worked at Pinewood Studios for three movies. I was very fortunate to work with Geoffrey Unsworth, Harry Waxman and Jack Hildyard as kind of a trainee-first assistant. I moved to France in 1962. I was shooting television news and was taking time off to attend a film school in Paris that graduated every cameraman in France. You couldn't work if you didn't pass an exam and have a diploma from that school. We learned photochemistry and camera mechanics. You had to shoot three short features before you qualified as a first assistant on features.' [From KODAK OnFilm website.]
Was asst to dir Joris Ivens [1953-54].
Was a member of the AFC and the ASC.
Ph numerous films for Belgian TV and was newsreel ph on '9 millions' [Belgium], 'Cinq colonnes à la une' [France] and 'Continents sans visages' [Switzerland]. Ph commercials dir by Christian Gandon, a.o.
Appeared in the doc 'Willy Kurant, itinéraire d'un découvreur' [2009, Michel Noirret & Francis Dujardin].
Awards: 'César' Award nom [1988] for 'Sous le soleil de Satan'.
Willy Kurant: 'Everyone thinks of me as a French cameraman, but I was raised in Belgium and was influenced by the Dutch master painters and the metallic blue light in the Northern sky. In the beginning, I thought film was like life at 24 frames per second, but soon realized we had license to light subjectively and interpret reality for artistic reasons. When we didn't have money to light, I found photochemical solutions to give the film a certain look. Cinematography is like playing first violin in a symphony orchestra with the director conducting. But, it is also a very interpretive art form. I believe in lighting at the spur of the moment. I'll see something in a face or in the way an actress or actor is moving and decide to change the way we cover and light that shot.' [From KODAK OnFilm website.]
FILMS | |
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1954 |
Pierre-Romain Desfossez [Gérard De Boe] b&w; doc/?m; cph: Freddy Rents |
1956 |
Klinkaart/La briquetterie [Paul Meyer] b&w; short/22m |
1956 |
Le retable de Notre-Dame de Lombeek/De retabel van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Lombeek [Paul Meyer] 16mm/b&w; short/18m; cph: ? |
1957 |
Impression de Moscou [Johan Eekman] c; doc/11m |
1958 |
Rythmes d'Europe/Europa langs nieuwe wegen [René Van de Weerdt] ?; doc/?m; cph: ? |
1959 |
Le mur de la mort [Jacques Carpent] ?; short/?m; cph: ? |
1959 |
La dernière toile [Harry Fischbach] b&w; short/?m |
1959 |
Eve et lui [Harry Fischbach] ?; short/?m |
1959 |
Béjart [François Weyergans] b&w; doc/19m |
1961 |
Roosevelt Sykes 'The Honeydripper' [Yannick Bruynoghe] ?; mus short/27m; cph: ? |
1961 |
Suite européenne/Vertrek [Patrick Ledoux] ?; cph: ? |
1962 |
Coups de feu à 18 heures [Daniel Costelle] b&w; short/13m |
1962 |
Un jour à Paris [Serge Korber] b&w; short/19m |
1962 |
Dans le vent [Jacques Rozier] 16mm/b&w; doc/8m |
1963 |
Les idoles [Marin Karmitz] b&w; mus short/9m |
1963 |
Auto [Jean-Claude Lubtchansky] c; short/14m |
1963 |
Encore dimanche [Jean-Christophe Averty] ?; doc/14m |
1963 |
Un vieux [Jean-Jacques Péché] b&w; short/35m |
1963 |
Chroniques turques/Turkish Chronicles [ep 'La corne d'or' (12m), 'Istanbul' (13m), 'Maître Galip' (11m), 'Byzance' (11m), 'Pehlivan' (13m) & 'Le Bosphore' (13m) dir by Maurice Pialat] b&w; doc series filmed in 1963 & 1964 |
1964 |
La demoiselle de Saint-Florentin [Serge Korber] ?; short/20m |
1964 |
Nuit noire, Calcutta [Marin Karmitz] b&w; short/24m |
1964 |
Le type au ras du cou blanc [Alain Dhenault] ?; short/10m |
1964 |
La cage aux oiseaux [Jean-Christophe Averty] b&w; short/14m |
1964 |
Lucie et Dominique [Jean Dewever] b&w; doc/25m |
1964 |
La brûlure de mille soleils [Pierre Kast] c; short/26m; cph: Jacques Maillet |
1965 |
La vengeance d'une orpheline russe [Monique & Françoise Lepeuve] c; short/10m |
1965 |
Les créatures/The Creatures [Agnès Varda] fs/b&w |
1965 |
L'affaire des poissons [Jeanne Barbillon] b&w; short/15m |
1965 |
Masculin Féminin - 15 faits précis/Masculine - Feminine [Jean-Luc Godard] b&w |
1966 |
Trans-Europ-Express [Alain Robbe-Grillet] b&w |
1966 |
Au pan coupé/Wall Engravings [Guy Gilles] b&w-c; cph: Jean-Marc Ripert |
1966 |
Roméos et jupettes [Jacques Rozier] c; doc/11m |
1966 |
Mon amour... mon amour/My Love, My Love [Nadine Trintignant] ts/c |
1966 |
Le départ/The Departure [Jerzy Skolimowski] b&w; 2uc: Andrzej Kostenko |
1967 |
Loin du Vietnam/Far from Vietnam [Alain Resnais, William Klein, Joris Ivens, Agnès Varda, Claude Lelouch & Jean-Luc Godard; Chris Marker (superv)] 16mm+35mm-to-35mm/b&w-c; doc/120m; 11 seg + intro & epilogue; cph: Jean Boffety, Ghislain Cloquet, Alain Levent, Denys Clerval, Bernard Zitzermann & Kieu Tham |
1967 |
The Deep/Dead Reckoning [Orson Welles] b&w-c; cph: Ivica Rajkovic; prod June 1967 - April 1969; unreleased |
1968 |
The Night of the Following Day [Hubert Cornfield] c |
1968 |
Michael Kohlhaas - der Rebell/Man on Horseback [Volker Schlöndorff] c |
1969 |
Tout peut arriver/Don't Be Blue [Philippe Labro] b&w-c |
1969 |
Le temps de mourir/The Time to Die [André Farwagi] c |
1969 |
Cannabis/French Intrigue/The Mafia Wants Your Blood [Pierre Koralnik] ts/c |
1969 |
Bhakti [Maurice Béjart] c |
1970 |
Renaissance [Marc Lobet] 16mm/c; mus doc/?m; cph: ? |
1970 |
Le feu sacré/The Sacred Fire [Vladimir Forgency] c |
197? |
Echoes of the 60's [Kevin Billington] ?; mus doc/?m |
1971 |
Salut, Jérusalem/La Jérusalem céleste/Hello Jerusalem [Henry Chapier] c; doc/72m; cph: Anne de Gasperi |
1971 |
Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii/Echoes: Pink Floyd [Adrian Maben] b&w-c; mus perf/60m (video version), 85m & 92m (director's cut, 2002); cph: Gabor Pogány; a version, released in 1974, included new footage shot in January 1973 |
1972 |
That's Las Vegas [Frank Lang] c |
1972 |
Keine Welt für Kinder/All These Children [Erwin Leiser] c; doc/91m; cph: Bert van Munster |
1973 |
Les jours gris/The Gray Days [Iradj Azimi] c |
1974 |
Amen [Roland Mahauden] c; short/?m |
1975 |
Je t'aime, moi non plus/I Love You, I Don't [Serge Gainsbourg] c |
1977 |
The Mafu Cage/Don't Ring the Doorbell/Deviation/My Sister, My Love [Karen Arthur] c; uncred ph; visual cons: John Bailey |
1977 |
Le fond de l'air est rouge/A Grin Without a Cat [Chris Marker] b&w-c; doc/240m; cph: Pierre Lhomme, P.W. (Pierre-William) Glenn, Étienne Becker, Jean Boffety, a.o.; Originally released in France on 23 November 1977 with a running time of 240m. It was released with the subtitle 'Scènes de la Troisième Guerre mondiale (1967-1977)'. It was re-edited by Marker in 1993 and scaled down to two parts of 90m each, the first titled 'Les mains fragiles/The Fragile Hands' and the second 'Les mains coupées/The Severed Hands' |
1977 |
Harper Valley P.T.A. [Richard C. Bennett & Ralph Senensky] c |
1980 |
Mam[m]a Dracula [Boris Szulzinger] c; cph: Rufus Bohez |
1980 |
Running Scared/Back in the U.S.A./Desperate Men [Paul Glickler] c; 2uc: Thomas Stern & Allan Martin; addph: Nathaniel Dorsky |
1981 |
Les îles/The Islands/Die Inseln [Iradj Azimi] c; cph: Robby Müller |
1981 |
Tag [T.A.G.] - The Assassination Game/Everybody Gets It in the End/Kiss Me, Kill Me [Nick Castle] c |
1982 |
The Killing of America/Violence U.S.A. [Sheldon Renan & Leonard Schrader] c; doc/90m; cph: Jon Else, Tom Hurwitz, Peter Smokler & Robert Charlton |
1982 |
Équateur [Serge Gainsbourg] c |
1982 |
À nos amours/Suzanne/To Our Loves [Maurice Pialat] left prod after 2 weeks; replaced by ph Jacques Loiseleux |
1984 |
Tuff Turf/Love Fighters [Fritz Kiersch] c; cameraman 2u: Elliot Davis |
1985 |
A State of Emergency/Chain Reaction [Richard C. Bennett] c |
1985 |
Flagrant désir/A Certain Desire/Trade Secrets [Claude Faraldo] c |
1986 |
Charlotte for Ever [Serge Gainsbourg] c |
1986 |
Sous le soleil de Satan/Under Satan's Sun [Maurice Pialat] c; replaced ph Luciano Tovoli, who fell ill after 2 weeks |
1987 |
Milan noir/Black Milan [Ronald Chammah] c |
1988 |
Un été d'orages/Stormy Summer [Charlotte Brandstrom] c |
1989 |
Aventure de Catherine C. [Pierre Beuchot] c |
1990 |
La contre-allée/Both Sides of the Street [Isabel Sebastian] c |
1990 |
China Moon [John Bailey] p/c; uwph: Jordan Klein Sr.; released in 1994 |
1992 |
Le grand pardon II/Day of Atonement [Alexandre Arcady] c; 2uc: Yves Dahan |
1992 |
Cuisine et dépendances/Kitchen with Apartment [Philippe Muyl] c |
1993 |
A Business Affair/D'une femme à l'autre [Charlotte Brandstrom] c |
1993 |
Le petit garçon [Pierre Granier-Deferre] c |
1993 |
Priez pour nous/Pray for Us [Jean-Pierre Vergne] c |
1994 |
White Man's Burden/White Man [Desmond Nakano] c; 2uc: Scott Browner |
1995 |
BSC: The Baby-Sitters Club [Melanie Mayron] c |
1996 |
Le jour et la nuit/Day and Night [Bernard-Henri Lévy] c |
1997 |
The New Swiss Family Robinson [Stewart Raffill] c; uwph: Jordan Klein Sr. |
1999 |
Delivering Milo [Nick Castle] c; 2uc: Ira Brenner |
2000 |
PC and the Web [Christopher Cain] c; live action + 3-D anim; unreleased (?) |
2000 |
Pootie Tang [Louis C.K.] c |
2004 |
Les joues rouges [Joëlle Miquel] b&w-c; short/11m |
"Un été brûlant"
2010 |
Un été brûlant/A Burning Hot Summer [Philippe Garrel] p (+ D-Cinema)/c |
[Right] with Philippe Garrel - "La jalousie" - Courtesy of Willy Kurant
2013 |
La jalousie/J'ai gardé les anges [Philippe Garrel] Hawk Scope (+ D-Cinema)/b&w |
TELEVISION | |
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1955 |
Françoise et la ville ou La ballade de l'orpheline [Jacques Boigelot] tvm/b&w/13m/16mm |
1958 |
Ballade pour un homme seul [Serge Leroy] tvm/?m |
1958 |
Expo-insolite [Serge Leroy] ?/?m |
1958 |
Les oiseaux de la Cambre [Serge Leroy] ? |
1958 |
Visages de la rue [Serge Leroy] ? |
1959 |
Une journée à Chimay [Serge Leroy] doc/30m |
1959 |
Hiver sur un bois [Serge Leroy] doc/5m |
1959 |
Les hommes de Nieuport [Serge Leroy] doc/10m |
1960 |
Pierre Caille [Jean Antoine] ? |
1960 |
Fellini [André Delvaux] 4-part doc series/b&w; cph: René Lebrun, Jacques van Hollebeke & Charles Abel |
1960 |
Charles Dekeukeleire [Jacques Boigelot] ? |
1960 |
Sous les cylindres d'acier [Claude Gabriels] ? |
1960 |
Le Moyen-Orient Arabe 1960 - Egypte, Liban, Syrie, Jordanie [Charles Godefroid] doc/?m |
1960 |
Le Boeing 707 [Louis Verlant] ? |
1961 |
En ce temps là... [Jacques Boigelot] ? |
1961 |
Sur ces chemins... [Jacques Boigelot] ? |
1961 |
Le Liban [Charles Godefroid] doc/?m |
1961 |
Rythmes et chansons No. 1 [László Lugossy] ? |
1961 |
Mon frère Jacques [Pierre Prévert] doc/b&w/240m |
1961 |
Le créateur [François Weyergans] doc/42m |
1961 |
Le circuit de la mort au Borinage/Borinage 61 [Paul Meyer] doc/b&w/15m |
1965 |
Anna [Pierre Koralnik] tvm/86m; first color program for French tv (1967) |
1965 |
Elsa/Elsa la rose [Agnès Varda & Raymond Zanchi] doc/b&w/19m/16mm; cph: William Lubtchansky; ep series 'Dim Dam Dom' |
1966 |
The Immortal Story/Une histoire immortelle [Orson Welles] c; tvm/58m; made for ORTF-tv and cinema release |
1967 |
Idea [Jean-Christophe Averty] mus special/?m (with the Bee Gees & Julie Driscoll); for ZDF-tv & RTB-tv (1968) |
1976 |
Outside Chance/Jackson County Jail [Michael Miller] tvm |
1994 |
Ils n'ont pas 20 ans [Charlotte Brandstrom] tvm |
1995 |
The Little Riders [Kevin Connor] tvm |
1995 |
Le cheval de coeur [Charlotte Brandstrom] tvm; sequel to 'Ils n'ont pas 20 ans' (1994) |
1996 |
Rose Hill [Christopher Cain] tvm |
1997 |
Drôle de père/Le père de Léa [Charlotte Brandstrom] tvm |
1998 |
Le monde à l'envers [Charlotte Brandstrom] 2-part tvm |
1998 |
Venise est une femme [Jean-Pierre Vergne] tvm |
1999 |
Brigade spéciale [pilot 'La septième victime' dir by Charlotte Brandstrom] 4-part series, 1999-2002 |
2001 |
Un couple modèle [Charlotte Brandstrom] tvm |
2001 |
La vie dehors [Jean-Pierre Vergne] tvm |
FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT | |
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1957 |
A Night to Remember [Roy Ward Baker] ph: Geoffrey Unsworth |
1957 |
The Gypsy and the Gentleman [Joseph Losey] ph: Jack Hildyard |
1958 |
Innocent Sinners [Philip Leacock] ph: Harry Waxman |
1959 |
Marche ou crève [Georges Lautner] ph: Roger Fellous |
TELEVISION AS DIRECTOR | |
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1963 |
Vietnam: Madame Nhu [dir] report + interview/b&w/26m; ph: ?; ep series '5 colonnes à la une' (RTF1-tv) |
1968 |
La Baie des Cochons [co-dir: Roger Benamou; prod: Philippe Labro] doc (archive)/b&w; ep series 'Caméra 3' (ORTF-tv) |
1968 |
Cuba Diccionario [dir; prod: Philippe Labro] doc/b&w/27m; ph: ?; ep series 'Caméra 3' (ORTF-tv) |