Committing to Memory

Nominated for three awards between the 2022 Berlin and Toronto International Film Festivals, writer-director David Findlay’s short Lay Me by the Shore is a coming-of-age drama captured entirely on 35mm and 65mm film. Working with Panavision Vancouver, cinematographer Evan Prosofsky, CSC assembled an equipment package that included a Millennium XL2 camera and PVintage and Primo optics, with which he committed to film the movie’s poignant moments of teenaged growth.

Prosofsky has a long history of working with Panavision on productions in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. “Panavision has always supported my projects, big and small, and this was no exception,” he says. “David's film was incredibly ambitious, shooting over a week on 35mm and 65mm for very little money. We couldn't have done it without the support of Adam Osten at Panavision Vancouver and our amazing producer Joaquin Cardoner working his magic.”

The cinematographer found visual inspiration in the work of the late Harris Savides, ASC. “I was thinking a lot about the way he kept things so unbelievably simple and understated,” Prosofsky reflects.

“We pulled everything 2 stops to bring out the pastels as much as possible,” he adds. “I liked the contrast between bright, golden interiors and soft, muddy, amber night exteriors. I wanted the film to feel like how I remember my summers as a teen, where the days and sunsets seemed to last forever.”

Images courtesy of the filmmakers.