Single Shot Cinema

The Dutch filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich has developed a highly distinctive approach to filming with small video cameras. His ‹Single Shot Cinema› technique involves long takes with a constantly moving camera, providing great poetic intensity and inducing extraordinary empathy with his protagonists. In his Master Class, Retel Helmrich will convey the theoretical and, above all, practical foundation stones of his work method. The emphasis will be on hands-on shooting exercises illustrating his special way of handling small video cameras. It is a course intended for experienced filmmakers and camera people who, already familiar with small video cameras, are interested in using them to more artistic ends. In outlining his course, Leonard Retel Helmrich comments: ‹I will show that shooting according to the 'Single Shot Cinema' technique is not just one style of filming but something that you can learn and in which you can find your own style. I have developed this method by carefully comparing film history with the history of other forms of art, like painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry". Of Indonesian extraction, for a long time now Leonard Retel Helmrich has been working almost exclusively in Indonesia. He has made a name for himself with several worldwide award-winning documentaries. These include SHAPE OF THE MOON, due to be screened at the seminar on the evening of the first day.

Date and venue
26 to 29 April, in Zurich. Consult the programme
On the evening of 26 April: screening of SHAPE OF THE MOON.
In preparation for this seminar, participants would benefit from attending the workshop to be conducted by Leonard Retel Helmrich on April 24th, during the Visions du Réel Festival in Nyon. This same Festival will feature a retrospective of all of Retel Helmrich's films.