Cinematographer Adam Pietkiewicz is currently navigating limited connectivity while aboard a vessel in the Baltic Sea, having recently arrived at an undisclosed port in northeastern Poland. The filmmaker will soon travel to Toronto to receive the Variety TIFF Artisan Award for his cinematography on the feature film “Angh,” marking only his second work in the feature category despite an established portfolio of short films.
“Angh,” directed by Theja Rio, tells the story of a Konyak Naga family in 1960s Nagaland, India, who are the final inhabitants of their ancestral village. The narrative explores how their commitment to traditional practices faces disruption when a Christian missionary arrives from America. Pietkiewicz collaborated with Rio to shoot the film on 16mm using Arri cameras equipped with Ultra Prime lenses and Kodak film stock, a deliberate choice to capture the raw, textured quality the director envisioned.
The production faced significant obstacles during nighttime filming, particularly due to Nagaland’s lack of consistent electrical infrastructure. Pietkiewicz developed an innovative solution by constructing specialized fire torches with added accelerant to generate sufficient light for proper exposure. The filmmakers maintained a minimalist creative approach on set while maintaining meticulous planning through an internal guide called the “Book of Angh,” which detailed every scene. Notably, the sequence depicting the village fire was captured entirely in-camera without digital effects.
Originally reported by Variety →
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