In The Green Ray (2001), British artist Tacita Dean famously managed to capture on 16mm film the fleeting light that the sun leaves behind right at the moment when it disappears from the horizon. And, because a digital camera used by others at the same time, on the same beach, was unable to capture it, her film proves two things: one, that the green ray, despite being missed by almost all who try and see it, is not a legend; two, that only film can capture it. But the evidence is elusive, as Éric Rohmer found out while shooting Le rayon vert (1986), eventually choosing to underline through slow motion and heavy colour correction the phenomena he had been desperate to obtain for seven months (which was eventually captured by…
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Cinema Scope (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 92- Fall 2022