Inside Venice 2026: Cinematographers Reveal Their Gear and Vision

When the sun slipped behind the Venetian canals last September, the city wasn’t just buzzing with actors and directors—it was humming with the faint whirr of camera motors and the soft click of lenses changing hands. IndieWire’s fall festival survey captured that buzz, asking every director of photography whose feature was screening at the 2026 Venice Film Festival what tools they used, why they chose them, and how those choices shaped the worlds they built on screen.

What emerged was anything but a checklist of “best‑in‑class” gear. Instead, the answers read like a patchwork quilt of personal histories, budget realities, and a shared hunger for experimentation. Some teams juggled a dozen different bodies and formats; others leaned on a single, trusty workhorse that has been in the DP’s bag for over ten years.

Take David Bolen, who co‑shot the hyper‑real comedy‑thriller Primetime with director Lance Oppenheim. “We started with an ARRI Alexa 35, but soon the story demanded an endoscope colonoscopy camera for that one‑second dip into a computer screen,” Bolen told IndieWire. By the end of production the pair had logged more than twelve camera bodies, spanning everything from 4K ARRIRAW to vintage 16 mm film. “We printed the final edit to 16 mm and re‑graded it for extra texture,” Bolen added, illustrating how analog grit can be purposefully added after a digital workflow.

Contrast that with Robert Kolodny’s approach on the slice‑of‑life drama Too Much Sugar. Working on a shoestring budget, Kolodny didn’t have the luxury of renting the latest RED or ARRI models. “I’ve owned my Sony FS7 for 13 years and my Canon L‑Series lenses even longer. It’s the rig I can pack in a minute and feel like an extension of my own body,” he said. That intimacy, he argues, translates directly to the screen: the camera becomes a second set of eyes, moving fluidly with the characters as the story unfolds.

Then there’s Jai Ip, whose collaboration with Japanese auteur Sabu on Arrested Memory shows how a well‑chosen filter can become a narrative character in its own right. By mounting ARRI Impression Filters onto Enso prime lenses, Ip created a sharp‑centered image that gradually softened toward the edges, mirroring the protagonist’s fractured memory. “The filters kept the centre crisp while letting the periphery drift, giving us a visual cue for disorientation without losing the point of view,” Ip explained.

Across the board, a recurring theme was the desire to push beyond the conventional. The survey revealed a spectrum of visual experiments: some DPs filmed portions of their movies on 35 mm film only to scan them back into a digital workflow; others used handheld rigs, drones, or even tiny action cams to slip into cramped spaces that a larger rig could never access.

For instance, cinematographer Nona Catusanu, who worked on the meditative drama I Matter, employed a blend of ARRI Alexa Mini LF for the wide, atmospheric interiors and a pocket‑size GoPro for the intimate, handheld moments in crowded market scenes. “The switch in format amplified the emotional distance and closeness the script demanded,” she said, highlighting how technology can serve story beats rather than dominate them.

Even the choice of format—whether shooting in raw 4.6K ARRIRAW, 6K Sony, or the nostalgic 16 mm—often reflected a thematic intention. The neon‑slick sci‑fi piece Chronovisor opted for Sony’s new BURANO sensor to capture an ultra‑high‑dynamic range that would later be graded down to a pastel‑washed palette, echoing the film’s memory‑fog motif.

Budget constraints, however, never seemed to dampen the creative fire. Many respondents noted that limited resources forced them to improvise, which, in turn, birthed some of the most memorable visual choices. “When you can’t rent a crane, you rig a car jack and a dolly—suddenly you discover a whole new way to move the camera,” laughed cinematographer Elena Martínez, who shot the kinetic romance Summer on the Rialto using a repurposed skateboard rig.

What ties these anecdotes together is a simple truth: the camera is a tool, but it is also a partner. Whether it’s a brand‑new ARRI Alexa 35, a battle‑scarred Sony FS7, or a makeshift rig built from kitchen cabinets, each piece of equipment carries the personality of the DP who wields it.

As the festival lights dimmed on the final night, the stories behind the lenses lingered longer than any applause. The 2026 Venice lineup proved that the magic of cinema still lives in the choices—big and small—that cinematographers make every day. And as technology continues to evolve, one thing remains constant: a good DP will always find a way to let the story breathe through the glass, no matter the camera in hand.