Shooting Intimacy, Using Natural Light, and Throwing Away the Plan
“We don’t often see these complex characters that are not only pregnant, but also have desires, and they have more agency,” cinematographer Ksusha Genenfeld instructed us earlier than SXSW.
That intuition to search out and shield the full humanity of a personality on display screen is necessary to Genenfeld’s method. The Los Angeles-based DP is a Loyola Marymount grad whose credit span the Shudder horror characteristic A Wounded Fawn and a roster of high-profile music movies. She brings a grounded, intimate visible language to daring, character-driven tales.
Her newest, PERFECTpremiered at SXSW 2026. Directed by self-taught English filmmaker Millicent Hailes, the movie follows Kai, a girl dwelling out of her automotive after a foul breakup in a world ravaged by contaminated water. When she discovers a hidden, thriving lake, she finds a group of misfits and an surprising romance with Mallory, a rich pregnant lady with secrets and techniques of her personal.
We spoke with Genenfeld earlier than SXSW about visible storytelling, shooting intimacy with a skeleton crew, and what occurs when the plan falls aside on set.
good Courtesy of SXSW
Editor’s word: The following dialog has been edited for size and readability.
No Film School: How did you become involved on this undertaking? What did you draw to it?
Ksusha Genenfeld: We obtained related via my agent, so it is not a really glamorous story of how we met. But after we first chatted with Millicent, who’s the director, it was simply love at first sight. We related so quick, and I learn the script in a single go as a result of I actually, actually related with the themes and the matter of the film. I feel I like coming-of-age tales, and this one is a kind of movies.
I feel to me it is a new factor as a result of our principal character, who’s performed by Julia Fox, is a pregnant lady. And I feel we do not usually see these complicated characters that aren’t solely pregnant, but additionally have wishes, and they’ve extra company. I feel usually instances in our society when folks see pregnant ladies, it is virtually like they’re stripped of their identification just a little bit. And so I simply actually love that this movie was very complicated and delved deep into this character who simply occurs to be pregnant.
And when do you ever get to see a queer story of two ladies having intercourse on display screen when one in every of them is pregnant? It simply felt very type of badass and revolutionary in a manner. So I used to be simply actually excited to do it.
NFS: As you’re clicking along with your director, how did you begin speaking about the imaginative and prescient and visible language of this world?
KG: It was essential tonally and stylistically for us to be on the similar web page. I do know Millicent was actually drawn to actually naturalistic lighting. And for us, composition and how we shot the movie had been essential as a result of we wished to indicate the connection that the two characters have.
At first, they begin to get actually shut, so we wished to do loads of over-the-shoulder photographs that felt like they’re related.
And then all through the film, there’s a little bit of a disconnect that is taking place. So we wished to separate them. So all the photographs we did had been all very clear. We did not see them in the similar area. And in the event that they had been in the similar area, if there was a two-shot, they had been very far aside, versus at the starting of the movie.
We wished to indicate this excessive intimacy that they had been experiencing. So there’s loads of POV photographs, there’s a number of closeups to really feel such as you’re virtually—I like this concept of filming one thing the place it feels such as you’re not speculated to be there as a viewer watching it, feeling such as you’re virtually seeing these intimate moments that you just’re not speculated to see. So we wished to actually embody that and maintain these intimate moments with them.
And the complete movie is simply very dynamic and actually enjoyable. We gave loads of handheld photographs, and I talked to Millicent about the arc of every character as a result of that was additionally essential to us. We had a reasonably rushed prep, and so we might meet on daily basis for six to 10 hours a day and simply dissect the script, and dive in, and attempt to discover as a lot as potential earlier than capturing on set.
NFS: What was your method to utilizing pure gentle, and how a lot did it’s important to form or affect it?
KG: We wished to make use of the pure gentle as a lot as potential as a result of we felt that that is what the world actually deserved and wanted. The complete world that we created was very popular and dry, and we would have liked to indicate that the solar was type of blasting on folks’s faces. That was actually necessary to us as a result of there is a idea of water shortage there. When individuals are watching the movie, it’s totally heat.
Obviously, pure gentle was a giant a part of it. Our gaffer, Kay Zhou, was simply so beautiful to work with, and she actually helped us form the gentle. So we did a mix of, if in case you have a personality in the backlight, I simply used a bounce card or some unfavourable fill. But after we had straight-on photographs, we used some diffusion. So we did form it fairly a bit.
I feel additionally as a result of our characters had totally different pores and skin tones and complexions, we needed to, for Julia, use just a little bit extra of softer diffusion, simply so she would not pop and glow an excessive amount of in the solar.
good Courtesy of SXSWNFS: Can you speak about the challenges of capturing intimacy and the way you approached it?
KG: We had a tremendous intimacy coordinator, Darci Fulcher. Especially as a girl DP—and I was an actor, as effectively—I feel understanding what it is prefer to shoot these intimate scenes, having been on the different facet of the digital camera, I actually wished to make everybody really feel very, very comfy.
So me, Millicent, Ashley [Moore]Julia, and Darci had intensive prep of simply going via the motions of how every scene goes to transpire. We simply talked loads about what everybody felt comfy with, which was actually useful. And that manner, in prep, we’re all used to one another, everyone knows one another.
I feel it’s so necessary to know the actors and get near them. That’s one thing that I actually take pleasure in as the DP, creating that trusting relationship the place the final thing they wish to take into consideration is, “How do I look on camera?” They really feel that they’ve that belief in me to painting them in a manner that they know they are going to look nice, and issues are simply going to work mechanically.
And then after we’re really capturing these intimate scenes, we determined to only have them and me on set, and that was it. It was simply the three of us. We did not even have sound on set. Millicent was behind the monitor watching the performances. So I feel that made it actually pure for them to really feel prefer it was simply virtually simply the two of them in the room, and I used to be simply type of there catching these lovely moments between the two.
I’ve really by no means shot an intimate scene that manner. I really feel like I’ve all the time had much more folks on set, however it felt very natural. And watching the movie now, it seems like we caught these intimate moments that we’re virtually not allowed to see, however we obtained to be there with them.
NFS: Was there at some point or one sequence the place you needed to actually work out a shot, and how did you sort out it?
KG: So, as all of us do, we had been working out of time, and we had been not on time, and it was this actually enjoyable scene that we had—a bonfire scene of all people partying.
Me and Kay Zhou, the gaffer, we obtained a balloon gentle for that scene. So it was a vital scene for us to get, and we solely had possibly an hour to shoot it as a result of we had been simply working just a little bit behind. The wrestle was actually to determine, as a result of we had, I do not know, 12 or 14 photographs to do for that one scene, however we had one hour.
And it was type of just a little little bit of chaos, however we put the balloon gentle up, and we had the bonfire going, and we obtained it to the proper peak with the pyrotech. And we simply had somebody behind me with just a little gentle simply to offer the actors the eyelight.
So we put everybody virtually in a circle, and I used to be simply in a position to pan round every actor. It was virtually like we had been doing a play. They simply began from the very high to the very backside of the scene, and I simply ran round with the digital camera and obtained a bunch of moments.
At first, we had been pondering, “How are we going to do this?” But it really got here out as such a greater scene as a result of there’s a lot power, and you’ll be able to really feel the chaos in the digital camera motion. The scene additionally has this urgency in it, and so it simply type of miraculously all got here collectively.
I like these moments on set when you’ve got a plan, and it’s important to throw it away, and you begin from scratch. I all the time prefer to suppose that it is virtually these pleased accidents that occur that make the movie higher. And that is what occurred that day.
Yeah, it was simply balloon gentle, hearth on fireplace, and just a little Lightsock for eyelights—and truthfully, virtually such as you’re simply dancing round with the actors. So it was very tense, but additionally very enjoyable at the similar time.
Behind the scenes of good Credit: Ksusha Genenfeld
NFS: Is there one factor you discovered from this undertaking that you will take with you?
KG: I feel one factor that I’ve discovered from this undertaking is to not be afraid of creating daring decisions.
Our director, Millicent, is simply so unapologetic and has such a transparent imaginative and prescient. Sometimes it could possibly be a giant ask to do sure issues—have a scene transpire in a sure manner, do all the pieces in the water, put folks in arduous gentle. So I actually discovered loads from working along with her as a result of she was simply all the time like, “F*ck it, let’s do it.”
And I feel as a DP, I all the time attempt to embody that, however typically I get very valuable with my lighting, and I get valuable with setups. The massive factor that I discovered is that typically throwing away the plan might create magic, and it is okay to strive issues I’m not used to, like placing characters in direct daylight, as a result of in my DP mind, I’m like, “They have to look beautiful, and I have to soften the light.”
But then Millicent’s like, “Well, that’s the point. This film is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable.”
It’s all about youth, and these younger adults are all type of going via so many adjustments. So having cinematography that feels just a little bit rougher and grittier is the look—it is the solution to go.
And once more, I take into consideration any undertaking I do, I simply study a lot from my collaborators. Millicent has additionally simply change into such an expensive buddy, and I’m all the time impressed by her as a result of she by no means takes no for a solution. She’s like, “We’re doing this. We’re going to figure it out.” Her power is simply so infectious.
