PIERRE ANGÉNIEUX MASTERCLASS DION BEEBE (A.C.S., A.S.C.) TO BE AWARDED TOMOROROW

USPA NEWS - As a mobility-impaired journalist and Cannes Film Festival correspondent, I had the pleasure of attending the Pierre Angénieux Masterclass with cinematographer Dion Beebe (A.C.S., A.S.C.), held at the fully accessible and handy-friendly Hotel Gray d’Albion. The hotel offered an exceptional welcome, perfectly suited for wheelchair users, which made attending this important cinematic moment a smooth and dignified experience.
Dion Beebe the Australian director of photography celebrated for his work on Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago, Collateral, and the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic was honored with the prestigious 2025 Pierre Angénieux Tribute. The masterclass was a genuine, intimate, and technical conversation moderated by The Hollywood Reporter’s Jordan Mintzer, during which I had the opportunity to ask Dion Beebe a question about his relationship with Artificial Intelligence and its implications for cinematography today. For those unfamiliar with what a D.O.P. (Director of Photography) actually does think of them as the visual composer of a film. If the director is the captain of the ship, the D.O.P. is the one making sure that ship sails through the light, mood, color, texture,

DION BEEBE A ONE OF A KIND D.O.P TO BE AWARDED BY PIERRE ANGENIEUX PRIXE IN AC NNES FIOLM FESTIVAL, 2025
For those unfamiliar with what a D.O.P. (Director of Photography) actually does think of them as the visual composer of a film. If the director is the captain of the ship, the D.O.P. is the one making sure that ship sails through the light, mood, color, texture, and framing the soul of cinema. It's an art form, a science, and sometimes, black magic with a lens. Becoming a world-class D.O.P. takes years of grind, training, intuition, and collaboration with visionary directors.

Take Roger Deakins, for example the British legend behind The Shawshank Redemption (1994, USA), Skyfall (2012, UK/USA), and the dreamlike 1917 (2019, USA/France), known for his epic long takes and poetic use of natural light with directors like Sam Mendes and Denis Villeneuve. Or Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki, who basically bent the laws of physics with Alfonso Cuarón on Gravity (2013), redefined natural light in The Revenant (2015, USA), and captured the illusion of a single take in Birdman (2014, USA). Then there’s Gordon Willis, the “Prince of Darkness,” who gave us the chiaroscuro perfection of The Godfather trilogy (1972–1990, USA) with Francis Ford Coppola. And let’s not forget French D.O.P. Bruno Delbonnel, who painted Amélie (2001, France) with whimsical golds and greens and later crafted gothic richness for Tim Burton’s Big Eyes (2014, USA).

Dion Beebe himself belongs to this elite club. Known for his impeccable eye and bold digital style, he won the Oscar for Memoirs of a Geisha (2005, USA) and received acclaim for his sleek, neon-drenched visuals in Michael Mann’s Collateral (2004, USA). He also dazzled audiences with the razzle-dazzle spectacle of Chicago (2002, USA), directed by Rob Marshall, a film that danced its way into history. His most recent venture? The much-anticipated Michael Jackson biopic Michael (set to release in 2026), where he again teams up with Rob Marshall.

What made this masterclass especially magical was its timing: a perfect cinematic synchronicity. On May 23, 2025, as Dion Beebe received the Angénieux Award at Cannes, cinema lovers around the globe were also celebrating the 130th anniversary of cinema itself born in Lyon, France, when the Lumière brothers screened their first film in 1895. In a beautiful nod to history, Thierry Frémaux, Director of the Cannes Film Festival and passionate archivist of French cinema, will also be in attendance, fresh off the release of his new documentary Lumière: The Adventure Continues a lyrical homage to those pioneering brothers who quite literally gave us “the movies.”

See article : http://www.newsrama.uspa24.com/bericht-25434/lumiere-the-adventure-continuesdirected-by-thierry-fremaux-over-cinemas-birth.html
http://www.newsrama.uspa24.com/bericht-25433/minister-of-culture-rachida-dati-commemorates-130-years-of-french-of-cinema.html

Fate? Destiny? Maybe just good timing. Beebe, who had once visited the Croisette as a teenager full of dreams, never imagined he'd return decades later to be honored on the very soil that birthed cinema. From Australia to Hollywood and back to Cannes, this was a full-circle moment, proof that the adventure indeed continues not only in Lyon, Los Angeles, and Seoul, but right here on the French Riviera.
And yes I did get the chance to ask him a question about AI in cinematography. The conversation that followed was candid, thoughtful, and sneakily funny you’ll find the full transcript below, unedited and straight from the man himself. A second article will cover the tribute ceremony, but for now, here’s what went down at the Hôtel Gray d’Albion. Spoiler: it involves AI, lighting magic, and a room full of starry-eyed cinephiles.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE MASTERCLASS WITH DION BEEBE MODERATED BY JORDAN MINTZER (THE HOLYWOOD REPORTER)
Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter)
We’re gonna go through some of your work. And then we’ll take some questions from the audience. And again, congrats on the award, and it’s great to have you here.
Dion Beebe
Thank you very much. It’s great to be here.
Jordan Mintzer
So, I guess the first question I wanna ask you is, I read that when you were quite young, you were already on set, because your dad was a designer?
Dion Beebe
Yes, yes, my dad worked in theatre set design so when I was a kid growing up in South Africa, I spent a lot of time in theatre, backstage. And it was always a very creative environment. It was always a lot of fun, and, yeah, I think, you know, I think that really was a big influence for me in terms of my career path.

Jordan MINTZER
So, you grew up in South Africa, and then at what point did you move to Australia?

Dion BEEBE
I was 18 when we left. Actually, we went to New Zealand first for a year, and then we moved to Australia. So, I was probably 19 when we arrived in Australia, and then I went to film school in Sydney. So that was where I kind of started my career.

Jordan MINTZER
And how did you get into cinematography? Was that something you knew about already, or did you discover it?

Dion BEEBE
You know, I think I always was interested in images and storytelling, and I started at film school actually doing editing. I had a love of editing. But I kind of fell in love with cinematography. And I think it was the visual storytelling, the kind of immediate results that you got, you know, being on set, working with people. You know, editing is a very solitary job. So, I think for me, I found a kind of energy in cinematography that I really responded to.

Jordan MINTZER
And how did you sort of break into the business after school?

Dion BEEBE
I was very lucky. When I left film school, I started working as a camera assistant, and then I started shooting a lot of commercials. And, you know, Australia is quite a small film industry, so it’s kind of very connected, and I was very lucky to start shooting features fairly young. I shot my first feature at 25 or 26, and then it just kind of built from there.

Jordan MINTZER
And when did you start working internationally?

Dion BEEBE
It was probably... I guess around the late ’90s. I did a film with Jane Campion I don’t know if you know Holy Smoke, with Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel that was probably the first film I did that had an international release. And that was really my stepping stone into working in the US and elsewhere.

Jordan MINTZER
How did you end up working with Rob Marshall on Chicago?

Dion BEEBE
It’s kind of a funny story. I got a call from my agent on a Friday, and he said, “They’re doing this musical in Toronto. They’re looking for a D.P. Can you go up and meet with the director?” So I flew up to Toronto on Saturday, met with Rob, and we just hit it off. We had a great meeting, and he offered me the job. So I had to move to Toronto on Monday.

Jordan MINTZER
That’s fast.

Dion BEEBE
Very fast, yes. But, you know, it was one of those moments where you meet someone and just connect. And we had a great collaboration. That was the beginning of a long working relationship.

Jordan MINTZER
And what was it like doing a musical like that, which kind of reinvented the way musicals were shot?

Dion BEEBE
It was an incredible experience. We were really trying to find a way to translate the energy of a stage musical into a cinematic language. And Rob came from theatre, so he had a very strong vision of what he wanted. We worked very closely together especially in pre-production to plan the camera moves, the lighting, how to support the choreography. It was a very integrated process.

Jordan MINTZER
I mean, it’s very stylized. Did you have a visual reference for that film?

Dion BEEBE
Yeah, we looked at a lot of classic film noir, a lot of old musicals. But really, we were trying to create something unique. We wanted it to feel like it had one foot in the past and one foot in the present. So, the lighting is very theatrical at times, but also quite modern in the way we used the camera.

Jordan MINTZER
And it won you an Oscar?

Dion BEEBE
It did. That was a surprise, honestly. I mean, it was such a big film, and there were so many elements that had to come together. But I think we managed to create something that people really responded to.

Jordan MINTZER
I’d love to show a clip now from Memoirs of a Geisha, which is a very different film from Chicago. Tell us a bit about making that one.

Dion BEEBE
That was a dream project. The design, the costumes, the sets everything was just stunning. We shot a lot on sound stages, and it was very controlled. It was almost like painting with light every day. I got to work with a great team, and it was just a very special film to be part of.

Jordan MINTZER
You also worked on Collateral with Michael Mann, which was one of the early digital films. How was that?

Dion BEEBE
That was a big change. We shot almost entirely with digital cameras at night, in Los Angeles. At the time, it was quite new to shoot a feature like that digitally. Michael wanted to capture the city in a way that film couldn’t the lights, the atmosphere. It was a big learning curve, but very rewarding.

Jordan MINTZER
And now you’re working on a new biopic about Michael Jackson?

Dion BEEBE
Yes, we’re in the middle of that now. It’s a huge project very ambitious. We’re trying to tell the story in a way that’s both respectful and visually compelling. It’s still in progress, so I can’t say too much, but I’m very excited about it.../
Retranscripted by Rahma Rachdi

During this rich and insightful masterclass, I had the opportunity to ask Mr. Dion Beebe, one of the most celebrated and sought-after Directors of Photography of his generation, both in Hollywood and internationally a question about Artificial Intelligence and its impact on cinematography. Renowned for his long-standing collaborations with acclaimed filmmakers and for his visually groundbreaking work, Dion Beebe is a multi-award-winning D.O.P., whose accolades include an Academy Award and numerous prestigious recognitions. Most recently, he was honored at the Cannes Film Festival with the distinguished Pierre Angénieux Tribute, which celebrates excellence in cinematography.
Although his response has not yet been shared publicly, I felt this question which reflects one of today’s most pressing concerns deserved to be posed to such a high-profile figure. His answer will be published in a forthcoming article via our agency. In the meantime, here is the transcript of my question, along with a thoughtful, anticipatory take on this crucial topic. To be continued…