The Canon Creative Studio featured panel discussions for films made with Canon equipment, camera displays, and a portrait lounge for your IMDb profile headshot during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. For Sundance 2020, 59 movies were filmed with Canon cameras and lenses out of a total of 118 films, which is 50%.
Canon has been a major supporter of independent film, and has hosted Sundance events for many years. And as the media sponsor for Canon at Sundance 2020, American Cinematographer moderated several filmmaker panels, including these three events:
The Dissident – Documentary Premieres
Camera: Red Weapon Woven CF 6K, Sony FS7 MK I 4K, Canon C300 MK II 4K
Lenses: Panavision Primo SL Series Prime T1.9, Lecia Cine Summicron-C T2.0, Canon CN-E Prime, Canon CN-E Zoom
DP Jake Swantko (Icarus) discussed the challenges of documentary filmmaking on Saturday, January 25. Swantko’s film is about the highly politicized murder of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey. Award–winning Director Bryan Fogel uncovers secrets in this real-life international thriller.
Boys State – U.S. Documentary Competition
Winner: U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
Camera: EOS C300 Mark II
Cinematographers Thorsten Thielow and Wolfgang Held joined director/producers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine at the Canon Creative Studio to discuss filming Boys State. This documentary was filmed on the EOS C300 Mark II in seven days. The film is a coming-of-age story that looks at the health of the American democracy. Through the eyes of one thousand 17-yr-old boys across Texas who built a representative government, Thielow and Held capture this story.
The Cost of Silence – U.S. Documentary Competition
Format: 1080 AVCHD
Camera: mostly Canon C100
Lenses: Mark I and Mark II zooms, not primes.
Emmy-winning Cinematographer Reuben Aaronson, award-winning Director Mark Manning, Editor Langdon Page and Writer Mark Monroe discussed their new documentary, The Cost of Silence, that was filmed with Canon Cameras. The filmmakers covers the long-term repercussions of BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling unit and explosion in 2010.
And inbetween these film panels and special events, the Canon Creative Studio hosted a lounge where Photographer Michael Ori (Ori Media Founder) took stunning portraits of actors, producers and industry VIPs to use for their IMDb page. Ori is a “storytelling” photographer who knows how to bring out your best. His company Ori Media has grown from a boutique agency in Utah to serving national clients such as Canon USA, Sports Illustrated and Ford Motor Company.
Congratulations to all the Cinematographers who had films in the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and shout out to Canon for supporting this annual film celebration!
