During his Feb. 28 visit to campus, Gennesseaux spent several hours with Elon students sharing advice on motion-picture photography and providing insights on the film industry.
Cinelon Productions, Elon's student-run film production company, hosted a cinematography workshop with Pascal Gennesseaux, a French director of photography with more than 40 years of professional experience. He has worked on countless movies that have been nominated for awards at various festivals, including the Venice International Film Festival and Les César, the French version of the Academy Awards.
Gennesseaux is best known for his cinematography work on “Police” (1985), “Operation Corned Beef” (1991), “Immortal” (2004) and “Johan Falk: Kodnamn: Lisa” (2012).
As part of his Feb. 28 workshop, Gennesseaux spent a few hours in the School of Communications’ Virtual Studio offering tips and sharing his professional expertise with students interested in filmmaking. He was on campus to serve as director of photography for senior Adrian Freyermuth’s B.F.A. thesis project, “Not Everything is Black and White.” The short fiction film follows the story of a dark-skinned girl, Koshi Mitchell, and her adoptive white family.
Freyermuth, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in cinema and television arts and international business double major, is the short film’s director and producer. Fellow Elon B.F.A. student Arlet VanHoutan is a writer and producer for the project.
During his time at Elon, Freyermuth has directed and produced several student films, some of which were selected to screen at the Cinelon Film Festival. Growing up with parents in the film industry – his mother is Charlotte Brändström, an international director – Freyermuth developed a passion for filmmaking at an early age. He has interned at ADEQUAT talent agency, which represents clients such as Natalie Portman and Marion Cotillard. He also interned at Film Finances, a leading completion guarantor company.
An aspiring screenwriter, VanHoutan has shared in promotion materials that the film is inspired by her own life story. She has written and produced several student films, ranging from dance and music videos to experimental and narrative pieces. She interned at Amasia Entertainment, a motion picture entertainment company, that has produced films such as “The Road Within,” “The Call” and “Zedd True Colors.”
Several Elon seniors and juniors are also attached to the project, including Hunter Strauch and Katie Shannon (producers), Molly Herman-Gallow (casting director), Joyce Choi (line producer), Joseph Keller and Jeff Leu (first/second assistant camera), and Lauren Duncan (assistant director).
Assistant Professor Youssef Osman, who is Cinelon’s faculty mentor, serves as a B.F.A. mentor on the thesis project.
Brändström is expected to return to campus in April to give a presentation about her work as a female director. A graduate of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, she has directed more than 30 feature films, mini-series and movies-of-the-week across the globe.