Sunday Read: Oscar Nominations On A Budget

Oscar Nominations on a Budget

It's awards season once more, with the 2023 Academy Award nominees announced earlier this week by Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams, live from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The Ceremony takes place on Sunday 12th March at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. In an era where home releases are vying for position alongside theatrical releases, and nominees are chosen from a wide variety of countries, there is a diverse selection to enjoy this year.

Scan through the Best Picture nominees and you'll find nine movies shot with assorted Arri cameras and one with a deconstructed, jerry-rigged 3D Stereoscopic Sony Venice camera, custom-built by the mind of James Cameron. Peek further down the category list though, and you'll find the odd film shot with affordable cameras and a limited budget – pictures that are no less engaging than their flashy, big-budget counterparts.

A House Made of Splinters

Photo: Azad Safarov

Shot in 2014 in Lysychansk, Ukraine, A House Made of Splinters is a documentary about an institution for children who have been removed from their homes and are awaiting court custody proceedings. Many of the children are in the home because their parents are no longer able to care for them, for a variety of reasons ranging from poverty to excess drinking. Residencies last up to nine months, with the destination during or after this likely to be a state orphanage or a foster home.

Directed and shot in its entirety by Simon Lereng Wilmont using a Canon C300 Mark II, a Canon 24-70mm, and a Canon 70-200mm, the film is equal parts heartwarming and difficult to watch. Using almost exclusively natural light, the tired but clean building feels warmer than its stark Soviet-era walls should allow it to. In an interview with Filmmaker Magazine, Wilmont stated that he was deeply inspired by French photographer Lise Sarfati, whose photos from post-Soviet Russia in the '90s captured harshness and beauty. The film was lightly grained in post, but otherwise the setting and light did all the heavy lifting.

I found this film extremely affecting, especially considering its legacy since the outbreak of the war in 2022. The city was one of the last under Ukrainian control in the Luhansk Oblast region, and after weeks of heavy shelling, it was captured by Russian soldiers. The institution and its residents were evacuated before Lysychansk fell.

A House Made of Splinters is currently showing on BBC iPlayer as part of the Storyville series.

The Elephant Whisperers

Shot over a five-year period, Kartiki Gonsalves' loving documentary about a couple in South India who raise an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu is a visual treat. One of three nominees from India this year, The Elephant Whisperers charts the diligent care provided by Bomman and Bellie, helping Raghu recover from injuries following the loss of his family. As well as the incredible bond that forms between couple and animal, the harmonious relationship between tribe and wildlife is at the heart of this story.

Sponsored by Sony Asia and distributed by Netflix, The Elephant Whisperers was shot by a team of four cinematographers (including Gonsalves herself) on Sony FS7 II cameras with Sigma cine lenses. Shooting in Mudumalai National Park was always going to provide gorgeous natural colour and beauty, and Gonsalves was quick to thank the local population for their faith in the film. Speaking to SheThePeople, she said:

“Kattunayakan Community opened their hearts and trusted us with their unique experiences and a pathway ahead. On behalf of Bomman, Bellie, and our beautiful elephant friends Raghu and Ammu, we are thrilled to receive this great honour!”

The Elephant Whisperers clocks in at a bite-sized 39 minutes and is well worth your time. The idea of such gigantic animals living in amongst the human population is especially compelling for someone from the southeast of England, where I'd be lucky to see a fox or deer in my local park.

The Elephant Whisperers is currently streaming on Netflix.

Fire of Love

Photo: Maurice Krafft

While the other films on this list were shot with modern digital cameras, Fire of Love is crafted almost exclusively from 16mm celluloid. Created by Peabody Award-winning Sara Dosa, the movie is fashioned from the extensive archives of volcanologist couple Katia and Maurice Krafft. The Kraffts, both from Alsace in France, met in the '60s and fell in love with each other – and each other's passion for the fiery monsters of the earth.

The Kraffts shot hundreds of hours of film documenting their adventures, springing into action whenever their network of seismologists tipped them off to the next eruption. Detailed foley work has been done here to bring silent footage to life, and the film is also interspersed with wonderful stop-motion animation from Lucy Munger. Director Dosa explained in an interview with Awards Daily that these animations were inspired by graphics the Kraffts themselves had collected:

“Katia and Maurice collected thousands of volcano illustrations that dated back to, I believe, the 14th or 15th century. Some of them are actually hanging behind me now. I got hooked in myself. So we thought telling the story of them falling in love in this paper book world felt true and appropriate to their meeting.”

Featuring staggering footage from two people who became utterly obsessed with capturing volcanic activity from mere metres away, the Kraffts began as scientists but were far more akin to filmmakers by the end. Coupled with Munger's animation style, the quick zooms and bizarre establishing shots featuring the Kraffts lend an almost Wes Anderson aesthetic to proceedings.

With the Kraffts placing wonder firmly ahead of fear, Fire of Love tells a tale of danger, beauty, obsession, ego, and tragedy. It features some of the most incredible imagery I have ever seen on screen, and is a mighty antidote to the processed CGI graphical fodder we've become accustomed to in recent years.

Fire of Love is currently streaming on Disney+.

Photo: Dolby

There are all sorts of interesting movies on the shortlist this year, in the top categories and beyond. With a multitude of streaming platforms competing for distribution rights, many of these pictures are more accessible than ever before. If you're into your movies, do a little research of your own – I promise you won't regret it.

Of course, one way to keep your shooting costs down is to hire cameras and kit for your production rather than buying outright. If you are planning your next project, you can explore our full range of digital cinema cameras available for hire online here.

Further Reading & Links:

Bizarrely, Fire of Love is one of two films charting the life of the Kraffts AND using their footage to do so. A Werner Herzog film titled The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice was also released last year. Herzog's documentary presents a less embellished, starker take on the couple and their adventures, dispensing with the detailed foley work and animations of Fire of Love in favour of classical music and realism.

• Simon Lereng Wilmont Interview on A House Made of Splinters at Filmmaker Magazine
• Lise Sarfati 90s Russia Photography Archive at DeMilked
• Kartiki Gonsalves Interview on The Elephant Whisperers at Deadline
• Official Lucy Munger Stop-Motion Animation Website

All images used under Creative Commons; rights attributed to original owners.