Hamoudi Laggoune

For Canon Ambassador Hamoudi Laggoune, some of the best filmmaking happens when the audience forgets the cinematographer is there at all. "You have to vanish behind the movie," says the Franco-Algerian cinematographer, whose career has taken him from 35mm film and music videos to feature films, documentaries and underwater shoots. "Don't put yourself and your ego in front. You have to be just enough for the scene."

It's a philosophy Hamoudi has arrived at after more than two decades behind the camera. Born and raised in Algiers, he experimented with 8mm filmmaking and black and white photography, although he initially imagined a future in sound. After moving to France in 1993, he began studying cinema in 1997, specialising in image and camera work.

Hamoudi and Allouache have now made eight films together, with another planned. Their working relationship begins with conversations about the script, paintings, films and other references to help guide them towards an aesthetic but crucially also leaves room for discoveries on set. Hamoudi often works handheld and physically close to the actors, responding to their movements and emotion rather than imposing a predetermined frame.

Canon technology has evolved alongside that approach. Hamoudi remembers the arrival of the large-sensor Canon EOS 5D Mark II as a breakthrough for digital filmmaking, giving him the depth of field he associated with film and a compact camera he could also take underwater. His appetite for experimentation today extends from underwater cinematography and Cinema EOS to virtual production and large-format imaging.

On La Famille (2021), the Canon EOS C500 Mark II gave Hamoudi the dynamic range to work with very limited lighting on a low-budget production. He now favours the Canon EOS C400, particularly for its low-light capabilities and the freedom it gives him to follow performers through changing light levels without having to interrupt a scene.

For Hamoudi, however, the technology always comes back to emotion. "Cinema is a language that speaks to your instinct," he says. "You have to know the rules, and then you can break the rules to create emotion."

Becoming a Canon Ambassador is, he says, both an honour and important recognition of the more than 20 years he has devoted to his craft. And his desire to keep exploring is undiminished. Whether he's working in near-darkness, taking a camera underwater or finding new ways to follow an actor's performance, Hamoudi remains happiest when the camera is in his hands. "When I'm on set with a camera, I feel like a hero," he says. "That's what we live for."

When you read a script for the first time, what is the first image you look for?

"I don't think it begins with one image. First, I need to have a discussion with the director. We might spend time talking about inspiration – paintings, references or movies we have seen – and from those conversations we start to build an idea of what the film should be. You don't always need lots of ideas. Sometimes the choice might simply be that the camera will be handheld and stay with the actors. And even after you have planned it, you can arrive on set, see something different and realise there is a better way. You have to leave room for that inspiration."


What makes great cinematography: an image people notice or an image they simply feel?

"For me it is much more about feeling. Cinema has a language that speaks to something instinctive in us. It isn't only intellectual. There are rules in cinema because they correspond to the way an audience sees and understands what is happening. You have to learn those rules first, but then you can break them when you want to create a particular emotion. A good movie should absorb you into its story. If you have to stop and explain everything, something isn't working. The audience should feel the image before they start thinking about how it was made."


After more than 20 years behind a camera, what can still surprise you on set?

"Everything. Every day we discover something new. I tell my camera crew that when the director says 'cut', nobody moves until I say so. Sometimes the actor is still inside the emotion of the scene; the director may be further away, but if I'm operating handheld, I can sometimes be a metre from the actor. I can feel how they are breathing and moving. I want to stay connected until that emotion is finished, because that unexpected moment may be something very special."


What piece of Canon kit can you not live without, and why?

"The Canon EOS C500 Mark II gave me freedom. We were making cinema on a very low budget and sometimes we couldn't properly light the scene. The camera's dynamic range allowed me to capture the difference between the highlights and the shadows, and work much more easily in such difficult conditions."


What else could we discover in your kitbag that helps you elevate your work?

"The rig is very important to me. It's one of the first things I check before a shoot because I'm the one who has to work with it all day. But I joke with my crew that even if you take my lens away, I can still shoot. I'll make a pinhole! A cinematographer has to know how to find solutions with whatever tools are available."

"There is no recipe when you start a movie. You never really know what is going to happen. What I have learnt is that you need to stay connected to the emotion. When I'm operating handheld with an actor, I'm breathing with them and moving with them. If that works, the audience forgets about the camera and feels the performance instead. For me, that is the highest level of what we do: the cinematographer disappears and only the emotion remains."

Instagram: @hamoudi_laggoune