lensed

Barton Cortright

5.0 (7)
FILM INTERVIEWS
UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Conversations focused on narrative independent cinematography

JAN 13

Ep 14. If I Had Legs I'd Kick You with Chris Messina

Today I’m talking to Chris Messina about his work on if I Had Legs I’d Kick you. With her life crashing down around her, Linda tries to navigate her daughter’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist. The film premiered at Sundance and was released by A24. I really enjoyed Chris’ work on the film especially his lighting approach, we dive into that as well as how Chris shot film and digital and how they pulled off some of the hardest shots of the film.

53 min
10/14/2025

Ep 13. Bring Her Back with Aaron McLisky ACS

Today I’m talking to Aaron Mclisky about his work in Bring Her Back. Bring Her Back is about a brother and sister who are forced to move in with a foster mother and quickly start to realize that something strange is taking place in their new home. This is the follow up film to Talk To Me by the same directors both of which were distributed by A24. I really enjoyed the conversation with Aaron, he dives into all sorts of ideas he developed with the directors in pre-production that result in really subtle visual ideas that they employed throughout the movie. We also chat about how they almost shot in academy ratio, using different lenses for each character’s perspective as well as shooting in the rain and improvising when plans change. We do dive into the film quite a bit so there are a lot of spoilers if you have not seen the film. The film is currently streaming on HBO Max so I recommend watching it before listening to this interview.

1h 19m
10/02/2025

Ep 12. Happyend with Bill Kirstein

Today I’m talking to Bill Kirstein about his work on Happyend. Friends Yuta and Kou, about to graduate, sneak into school. They pull off a terrible prank and face unforeseen consequences as graduation approaches. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is playing in New York at Metrograph currently. The film features really well composed and thought out cinematography by Bill. Bill was recently selected as a Rising Star of Cinematography by American Cinematographer. In addition to shooting Happy End he recently shot the musical Mean Girls, we chat a bit about what that experience was liking transitioning form indie films to a studio movie. In addition to that we also discuss why Bill likes deep focus, shooting happy end from the perspective of the future and what it was like shooting a feature in Japan.

54 min
09/23/2025

Ep 11. Friendship with Andy Rydzewski

Today I’m talking to Andy Rydzewski about his work on the film Friendship. Friendship centers around Craig Waterman (played by Tim Robinson), a reclusive man who meets his new neighbor Austin (played by Paul Rudd) and forms an unexpected friendship with him. As their friendship grows so does Craig’s obsession with Austin. Friendship premiered at TIFF and went on to be distributed by A24. It’s currently streaming on HBO. Andy was really generous with his time so the podcast this one is on the longer side at 90 minutes. Andy and I dive into how zooming wasn’t initially the plan at the outset, his prep process to finding the right visual language for each film and how Friendship has affected his career. There was also some sort of connection issue with Andy’s side where there were some minor audio dropouts here and there, I did my best to edit them out or stitch them together.

1h 26m
07/16/2025

Ep 10. Familiar Touch with Gabe Elder

Today I’m talking to Gabe Elder about his work on Familiar Touch. Ruth Goldman, an elderly woman suffering from dementia lives in assisted living. There, she needs to deal with different people, routines and environments while her identity and desires transform. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won three awards including Lion of the Future award, Best Director and Best Actress prizes in the Orizzonti section. Gabe and I dive into a wide range of topics including how every scene was meticulously drawn via overheads, working on indie level budgets, subjective versus objective camera work and how the camera generally maintains the distance and perspective of a care worker.

59 min
07/08/2025

Ep 9. The Featherweight with Adam Kolodny

Today I’m talking to Adam Kolodny about his work on The Featherweight. Based in 1964 a camera crew follows retired featherweight boxing champion Willie Pep. Down and Out in Hartford, Connecticut married to a woman half his age and facing mounting debts Pep decides to return to the ring. The film is shot in a style Adam calls “direct cinema” which is very similar to the style of D.A. Pennebaker or the Maysles Brothers. Adam and I chat about how they found the particular mix of sensor and lenses to do a film emulation approach. We also dive into the choices he made to accurately emulate the filmmaking styles at the time

42 min
05/20/2025

Ep. 8 Adrian Peng Correia

Today is a bit of a different episode. I had the opportunity to talk to Adrian Peng Correia - rather than focusing on one project we have a wide ranging conversation primarily about his transition from shooting indie features to large budget television. We also chat about agents, selecting projects, making decks, the interview process, and many more topics.

1h 55m
04/22/2025

Ep. 7 The Shrouds with Douglas Koch CSC

A conversation with Douglas Koch CSC about his work on David Cronenberg's The Shrouds. We discuss how the film was shot mostly with one focal length, how Cronenberg does not storyboard or shotlist and we also chat a bit about how Douglas does re-shoots for M. Night Shyamalan's Trap.

1h 16m

5

out of 5

7 Ratings

Finally!

01/28/2025

mossgardenfilm

Perfect concept for a show: creative discussions (with actual technical details) between two excellent cinematographers working at approachable budget levels. Inspiring, educational, and, hopefully, community-building.

Conversations focused on narrative independent cinematography

Creator

Barton Cortright
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

14