May 2023

Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC: Cinematic Rhythms

Standing on a suburban street outside the Cinéma Normandy à Vaucresson, surrounded by French police, 11-year-old future ASC and AFC member Darius Khondji started to cry. His mother, Suzanne, and older sister, Christine, had dressed him up to help him look old enough to see King Kong — admittance was denied to anyone under 13 — but their disguise was quickly exposed and he was escorted out of the theater as the opening credits began. “It was a sad moment, but very beautiful, because I saw those opening credits,” Khondji recalls with a laugh. He didn’t know what a cinematographer was, he adds, “but I started to pick up the names of the crew in the credits. For me, it was a determinant point.” Khondji accepts the ASC International Award on...more