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Chance Encounters: Bieke Depoorter in profile against a train window, dusk light glowing blue outside

Bieke Depoorter: Chance Encounters

directed by Joppe Rog

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Synopsis

Key to Bieke Depoorter's approach to her work are the relationships the photographer establishes with her subjects. Accidental encounters are often the starting point for projects: some years-long. How these interactions naturally develop dictates the nature of Depoorter's work.

Format
Documentary
Role
Cinematographer
Director
Joppe Rog

Trailer

Watch trailer on Vimeo (opens in a new tab)

How do you film a photographer whose method depends on being let in? Bieke Depoorter: Chance Encounters is a documentary portrait of the Magnum photographer, directed by Joppe Rog and produced by Magnum Photos, about the relationships Depoorter builds with the people she photographs: accidental encounters that often grow into projects lasting years. Filming photography as it is being made means staying out of its way. The cinematography observes Depoorter at work and holds back where she holds back, so the documentary’s images never compete with her own.

Stills

Chance Encounters: warm-lit clear reels on a vintage Super 8 projector, MAGNUM PHOTOS titled in the dark
Chance Encounters: close view of a Super 8 projector reel and focus dial, Bieke Depoorter titled in amber light
Chance Encounters: tattooed blonde woman in black touching her neck, red nails, dim interior
Chance Encounters: Bieke Depoorter photographing among old suitcases in a dim brick-walled attic
Chance Encounters: dark silhouette of a photographer at night, camera focus light glowing red
Chance Encounters: red-nailed hands lifting a film canister from a wooden box in low warm light
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Chance Encounters: profile of a tattooed woman in glasses and cross necklace, titled learn to embrace chance encounters
Chance Encounters: blonde subject aiming a compact film camera in warm lamplight, building photographic relationships title
Chance Encounters: glowing Super 8 projector lens before a wall of pinned photographs, Storytelling titled
Chance Encounters: blonde woman lying down shooting an Olympus compact camera, Trust and Intimacy titled
Chance Encounters: hands arranging prints on a lightbox, Editing and Sequencing titled in warm light
Chance Encounters: blurred handwritten pages of an open notebook, Photobooks titled in soft focus
Chance Encounters: Bieke Depoorter in profile against a train window, dusk light glowing blue outside
Chance Encounters: a hand pinning portraits to a white brick wall covered with taped photographs
Chance Encounters: Bieke Depoorter in profile in her studio, titled an online course by Bieke Depoorter

Credits

Director
  • Joppe Rog
Producer
  • Magnum Photos
  • Michael Sargeant
Cinematographer
  • Victor Maes
1st Assistant Camera
  • Jan-Willem Rouwhorst
Sound
  • Matthijs Klijn

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