We wish this chart was more interesting to explore. Unfortunately, it’s pretty boring. Nevertheless, here is it. IndieWire continues with its fascinating tradition to reveal the cameras and lenses that shot Sundance Film Festival 2022 films. And how does it compare to the previous festivals? Let’s see, but do not expect a scoop. 

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival is taking place from January 20 to 30, 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic protocol, it was to have been a hybrid festival (a mix of in-person and virtual),  but on January 5, 2022, it was announced that the in-person components would be significantly reduced in favor of a virtual festival due to the Omicron variant. BTW, the 2021 edition actually drew a total audience of more than twice as large as the typical in-person event in Park City. It had fewer feature films than usual, but because of its online nature, it saw participation from all 50 states and 120 countries. So there’s some good news when making it an online version. However, there’s nothing like an in-person event because watching movies work best together, face to face, in a big screening hall, rather than on an online platform. A hybrid festival sounds like a very smart solution though. 

Main Street has always been a happening hub during Sundance.

As the tradition calls, IndieWire reached out to the cinematographers behind the scripted narrative features premiering at the festival to find out which cameras and lenses they used. Y.M.Cinema Magazine has ingested that data and built a chart. First, here’s the list below:

Explore the chart based on that data:

When we said that the chart is boring, we meant to it. These camera charts derived from independent filmmakers’ data are supposed to be more versatile when compared to high-budget projects like Oscars, Emmy, and so on. However, it looks very much the same as the Academy Awards camera charts. Moreover, it reminds the camera charts of Sundance Film Festival 2021 and 2020. Explore them below:

The ARRI ALEXA Mini always takes the lead, following the LF version (regular or Mini) and then the Sony VENICE. The more desired film camera is almost always the ARRIFLEX 416 or the ARRICAM LT. Thus, this data seems to be banal, although in 2021 and 2020 there was a higher level of versatility due to Canon (C300) and Blackmagic (URSA and Pocket). Unfortunately, it appears that independent filmmakers prefer to get their hands on high-end cinema cameras (ARRI, RED, Sony, Panavision). We do hope that in the documentary section we’ll see some Canons and other manufacturers (note that these are the scripted narrative features). We’re eagerly waiting for a bunch of interviews of DPs that shot films premiered at Sundance 2022 with Canon cameras. By the way, even the link to IndieWire’s page (https://www.indiewire.com/feature/film-cameras-sundance-ARRI-ALEXA-1234692598)  says it all ?

Yossy is a filmmaker who specializes mainly in action sports cinematography. Yossy also lectures about the art of independent filmmaking in leading educational institutes, academic programs, and festivals, and his independent films have garnered international awards and recognition. Yossy is the founder of Y.M.Cinema Magazine.

The big question is, so are entries accepted or denied based on what camera was used? Something is off here, I love Arri but Cameras shouldn’t decide who wins, I thought filmmaking was about telling the story.

It was not the point here of which camera should decide what movie wins. What choice of camera to use does not decide a movie’s success. This was only an objective observation of which cameras were used most in the list of movies cited. That’s all. How did you jump to such a conclusion to ask such a question?

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