Cannes: Director-cinematographer Santosh Sivan has joined the big league of international cinematographers with the century-old French lens manufacturing company Angénieux bestowing its Pierre Angénieux Tribute on him at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
Instituted in the name of Pierre Angénieux, the founder of the French optical manufacturing giant, the Pierre Angénieux Tribute is a prestigious award previously won by legendary cinematographers Iranian-French cinematographer Darius Khondji, who worked on the Oscar-winning 'Amour', and French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel ('Amelie').
The Thiruvananthapuram-born Sivan was bestowed the honour at a glittering ceremony on the sidelines of the Cannes festival Friday evening, thereby becoming the first Asian cinematographer to receive the Pierre Angénieux Tribute.
A founding member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers, Sivan is the most awarded Indian cinematographer.
The only cinematographer-member of the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers, Sivan is well-known for his works with such celebrated directors as Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam and Malayalam filmmaker Priyadarshan.
An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, Sivan burst into the Bollywood scene in 1992 with Mani Ratnam's "Roja" and was also the cinematographer for the Tamil director's 1998 Hindi blockbuster, "Dil Se" starring Shah Rukh Khan, Manisha Koirala and Preity Zinta.
"My father (renowned director Sivan) has been a mentor for me. I used to travel with him when he was a photojournalist on several of his work trips," says Sivan, who also directed films like 'The Terrorist', which won the National Award for Best Tamil Film in 1998, and 'Asoka' in 2001.
"As a young student I used to like the technical aspects of filmmaking and joined a course in black and white photography in Mumbai before joining FTII," says Sivan. "I was inspired very early by the works of Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who shot films like American director Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Apocalypse Now'," he adds.
An early convert to digital cinematography, Sivan says the conditions in India made him a complete cinematographer.
"As a cinematographer you are dealing with a lot of challenges in India like pollution and dust," he says. "These are also the challenges you can celebrate."
"The arrival of digital technology ended the career of many major cinematographers across the world. But change is necessary," says Sivan. "I am happy that I was one of the earliest cinematographers to adapt to digital technology."
"There are serious attempts today to bring back celluloid cinema. It is, however, difficult to get new film stock in India," he adds.
The award-winning director-cinematographer conducted a master class at the festival on May 23.