Cinematographers at the Cannes Film Festival reveal which cameras they used to shoot their movies
(Image credit: Cannes Film Festival / Arri)
The Cannes Film Festival is recognized for premiering some of the greatest cinema in the world, with production studios and filmmakers showing their new creations, gauging popularity and creating hype before mainstream releases.
Each year IndieWire surveys the cinematographers whose films premiere at the event, to find out which cameras were used, with 59 respondents. For the fifth consecutive year, the Arri Alexa Mini was the most popular camera, with 15 films shot on the 9-year-old camera, cementing it as still one of the best cinema cameras around.
The Alexa Mini was released in early 2015 and since then it has become a huge hit with filmmakers for its extreme versatility and flexibility. Although the original model has been discontinued by Arri and upgraded to the Alexa Mini LF (which came in third on the 2024 list), the original still comes out on top at this year's Cannes – and with credits such as Joker, The Irishman and Jumanji to its name, it is easy to see why.
IndieWire spoke to Ranabir Das, the director of photography on All We Imagine As Light, who said, "I find the Alexa Mini to be the most flexible camera amongst the top range cameras. The shoot was primarily hand-held and the Mini seemed like the obvious choice."
The Arri Alexa Mini in action (Image credit: Arri)
It wasn't just the Alexa Mini flying the flag for Arri, as the majority of films at this year's festival were created with an Arri camera as their primary. The Alexa 35, Alexa Mini LF, Arriflex, Alexa LF, Alexa 65 and Arricam were also used among the 59 filmmaking teams.
The fascinating thing is that despite all of the films that have used the same or similar equipment, the tone and style of each movie are entirely unique.
The Sony Venice (Image credit: Sony)
Despite the dominating presence of Arri cameras, they weren't the only brand of camera used. The Sony Venice came in as the fifth most popular, with eight films using it as their primary camera. Red was featured in four movies, with the Red V-Raptor and Red Gemini used in two films apiece. The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K was also used in two, and the Panavision XL2 was used in one movie.
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It is great to see the Blackmagic on the list, as compared with the other cinema cameras it is the most consumer-friendly and shows that you do not need to spend tens of thousands to create a film worthy of showing at Cannes.
IndieWire's survey includes comments from the filmmakers, including why they decided to use certain cameras. It also features some of the B camera choices, and is well worth a read.
Kalum Carter is a photographer, photo editor and writer based in the UK, and for almost a decade he has worked with brands and publications to create, edit, and sequence imagery. Having recently graduated with a Master's Degree in Photography from the University of the West of England (UWE), Kalum joined Digital Camera World as a Staff Writer, covering news, reviews, and his biggest passion – photography books!
Kalum's photography has been published and exhibited around the world, and he continues to photograph on a project-by-project basis. He is currently working on a personal project capturing the people and landscape of Gower, South Wales. Currently untitled, this body of work will be exhibited for the National Trust later this year.
