American Cinematographer - September 2004 - 34

and had the freedom to determine their

positions during rehearsals." It was
only after watching the actors map out
own

their movements that the director and

cinematographer discussed how to
shoot the

scenes.

The film

was

shot in the standard

aspect ratio predominantly on
location in Slovakia and the Czech
1.85:1

Republic. Despite the epic sweep of the
story - and the breathtaking land¬
scapes - the filmmakers decided
against anamorphic widescreen because
they did not want "to make a big show,"
in Sopov's words, and because the script
called for characters to

use

candles and

oil

lamps for illumination. Most of the
picture was shot with Primo zoom
lenses: the 14.5-50mm T2.2 Macro, the
17.5-75mm T2.3 4:1, and the 24-275mm

T2.8 11:1. A few shots

-including a
of a
nearby hill, and some expressive closeups of Eliska when she is lost in the
forest during a rainstorm - were
captured with a 135-420mm T2.8 3:1
Primo zoom. Sopov used Primo primes
view of Joza's house from the top

In

designing the
Zelary,
cinematographer
Asen Sopov
found inspiration
in the paintings
of Georges de La
Tour. "The light
always comes

Love and War

look of

from

realistic
that

some

source

gives the

entire scene its
mood," he says.

30

by Jean Oppenheimer
The natural

beauty of the Czech
countryside contrasts with the horrors of
war in Zelary, a World War II drama that
was a nominee for the 2003 Academy
Award for Best Foreign-Language Film.
The third Czech film to appear in that
category over the past eight years
[Divided We Fall was nominated in
2001, and Kolya won the award in 1996),
Zelary concerns
Eliska
(Anna
Geislerova), a sophisticated Prague
nurse and Resistance fighter who eludes
the Nazis by fleeing to a remote moun¬
tain community. To keep from arousing
the suspicions of the villagers, she
marries a shy, uneducated farmer, Joza
(Gyorgy Cserhalmi) - a patient whose
life she had saved at the hospital - and
then slowly finds herself falling in love
with his innate decency.
Zelary was nominated for 11
Czech Lions, including one for cine¬
matographer Asen Sopov, who met with
AC last February while he was in Los
Angeles for the Academy Awards.

September 2004

Sopov has worked with Zelary director
Ondrej Trojan several times since they
met as students at Prague's Academy of
Fine Arts. Born in Bulgaria, Sopov
decided on a film career at the age of 10,

(17.5mm, 21mm, 27mm, 35mm, 40mm,
50mm, 75mm, 100mm and 150mm) for

when he and his mother, a theater critic,

a

saw

Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet.
After

native Sofia,

studying photography in his
Sopov moved to Prague to

continue his studies. His first feature

as

the most difficult

night shots and for all

Steadicam work.
The

package consisted of
Sopov oper¬
ated), a Moviecam Compact, and two
PanArri 35-3 units, making Zelary the
first locally produced feature to be shot
camera

Platinum Panaflex (which

with Panavision

cameras.

(Somewhat

a

cinematographer was the 1990
comedy Let Us Sing a Song-, other cred¬
its include the telefilms Piece by Piece

paradoxically, the company's cameras
have long been used for commercial
work in the Czech Republic.) "I chose

and The Multicar Movie Show, the TV

Panavision because of its excellent,

series Puba and Filip,

sharp zooms, which have a shallow
depth of field and very good speed," he

and dozens of
Zelary is
his second feature with Trojan, who is
perhaps best known in the United States
for producing Divided We Fall.
According to Sopov, he and
Trojan approached Zelary very differ¬
ently than they had previous jobs.
"Usually Ondrej and I do storyboards and
have sequences well thought out [before
rehearsals begin]," he explains. "But
with Zelary, Ondrej's primary concern
was authenticity in acting. He wanted to

commercials and music videos.

make

sure

the actors

were

comfortable

remarks.

When

designing a film's look,
Sopov, whose stepfather was an art
historian, frequently references painters.
For Zelary he found inspiration in the
work of Georges de La Tour. "His compo¬
sitions were very realistic and simple yet
very expressive, much in the style of
Caravaggio," he remarks. "The light
always comes from some realistic
source that gives the entire scene its
mood. Ondrej likes expressive filmmak-

CPSSliacpocstuerulendfrt.aeys,

bMaphrotyitns

Zelary
American Cinematographer - September 2004

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