Christopher Behnen

Here is some new work that I am incredibly proud of. It is a Branded short film for Joyride candy (YouTube Ryan Trahan and it should show up) Isaac Carlton approached me with this project last fall and him and I put together a stellar team of Minnesota crew and talent to make it happen. I did the cinematography for this as usual but I also operated as the production company and did the set design and building for the gameshow and the bunker. The sets ended up being a huge collaboration between myself and @maxmainwood . I built the sets in my garage and Max finished them off with detail work and production design. I am so thrilled with the life he added to these! Huge thank you to @calebgenheimer who helped me turn sketches of the game show set into CAD designs that ultimately went to a CNC shop for production. And to @justinelly and my G&E crew who patiently and methodically troubleshot how to wire 130 incandescent bulbs on 8 separate circuits for the chase light effect in the gameshow. we were literally still wiring these as we were shooting. @paulwinkels256 , produced the hell out of this! And we are both very proud to have shot it in our very own north Minneapolis neighborhood at the historic @thecaprinorthmpls Minnesota Director @isaac_carlton Executive Producer @ryantrahan Producer Paul Winkels Production Manager @justin_silvis Director of Photography Christopher Behnen 1st AC @ginnyhub Gaffer Justin Meredith Best Boy Electric @pfifr Key Grip @honourablementions Best Boy Grip @kishdaniels Sound Recordist Nick Wright Production Designer Max Mainwood Set designer Christopher Behnen Key HMU @tentaclehaus Costume Designer @claire.looker Craft Services @hsgermaine Art Assist Pablo Hernandez DIT @kristarosek Art Assistant @eugene.langlois CAD Artist Caleb Genheimer Lazer cutting Tech Arlo Siemsen CNC Operator Jake Jorn Set photographer @haleyfriesenphotography Valley of Fire SFX Makeup Crista Llewellyn SFX Makeup Ashley Aldridge PA @christarheingans Props: Samantha Schacht Post Editor Isaac Carlton Colorist @nate.color @the.trafik Sound Designer / Mixer @tab_sounddesign VFX @levi.hint VFX Caleb Natale CG Artist Mike Ridolfi

Christa A bittersweet smile for the final beach day of ‘25 @ilfordphoto HP5 35mm

Here are some select frames from a @yoursmith music video I shot earlier this year. I was really trying to channel my love for Elswit in this one. Specifically his magical lighting work on Boogie nights. Thank you thank you thank you to @keithmoechnig and @justinelly for being my “sweet-boy” crew on this one! And it is always a pleasure to work alongside @mack.hastings . He brings such a playful and cohesive vision to the projects I have been fortunate to collaborate with with him on.

35 (a little late) 1. Bedroom Self portrait 2. Portugal, Atlantic Ocean 📷 @christarheingans 3. Happy place (affectionately titled “the sound canoe”) between my two speakers 🎥 @kristarosek

One of my favorite shots from my new project for Caroline Smith, alongside a couple pieces of inspiration I carried into production from Karen Dalton and Bob Dylan. @yoursmith @mack.hastings @__iohnny @feelslike95films @calebgenheimer @justinelly

A couple sigma+atlas mercury frames from a work trip to Arizona last week. After we wrapped I was able to spend some time with @jon_t_vinson , speaking in one of his film classes about the pre production process as well as getting some good hiking, running and food in.

"A lot of the emotional content in this short came from personal experience and making it was my way of reckoning with and saying goodbye to a very specific, tumultuous chapter of my life."⁠ ⁠ A couple’s romantic getaway is derailed by a declaration of love and a tiny fly.⁠ ⁠ 🪰 Tiny Thing⁠ Dir. Joshua Giuliano⁠ ⁠ ▶️ Watch Now 🔗 Link in Bio⁠ ⁠ "Deftly blending comedy and horror, the film pushes its simple premise to the extreme to explore the fear of intimacy." - S/W Curator, @irinaastari ⁠ ⁠ CREDITS⁠ ⁠ @jacobskinsuit ⁠ @thebrittharris ⁠ @joshuagiuliano ⁠ @christopherbehnen ⁠ @kellenwitschen ⁠ @kristarosek ⁠ @dena.winter ⁠ @calebgenheimer ⁠ @bilywarp1 ⁠ @justinnelly ⁠ @ethandorercamera ⁠ @adambaudio ⁠ ⁠ #ShortFilm #ShortoftheWeek #Filmmaking #TinyThing

Last year I had the privilege of spending a week in Maui with director Tristan Carnahan documenting one of my favorites chefs, Karyn Tomlinson’s exploration of Maui’s vibrant and complicated food ecosystem. Tristan and I spent the weeks leading up to the shoot discussing the visual style, our goal being to strike a balance between formalism and freedom. One of the things he told me early on was that we would never be filming a traditional sit down interview and if we were capturing a conversation, I didn’t have to be filming the face of the person talking. On the day this allowed me to engage with my intuition and the immense nature that we were always enveloped in. As a result this became one of the most rewarding documentary shoots I have been a part of and I am incredibly proud of the footage and stories we captured. We shot this both on 16mm film as well as digitally on my Alexa Mini in super 16 mode. This allowed us to carry just one lens, the Canon 8-64mm from @cinemechanics which has become a favorite of mine. This video Is a little teaser of more to come.

Another travel journal entry from my last day in Japan. These photos were taken in Hiroshima on illford HP5. —————— 9/17/24 Our final stop on our japan tour is the A-bomb memorial museum and the A-bomb dome and surrounding grounds. We walked through the museum in a silent malaise and then made our way to the dome as the sun was setting. The dome is a building that was very close to the epicenter of the explosion but was one of the few to remain partially intact. It has been preserved as it stood as a memorial of those murdered and a monument to world peace. It is sickening to me growing up and learning about this event that it was always justified in some way or another. We don’t seem to have a national sense of guilt for this. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the American government is one of the great evil acts of human history. There is no justification. It is pure evil, and we did it not once but twice. Outside the dome, a man stood protesting the genocide in Palestine and my heart deepens its fracture over the well worn pilgrimage my tax dollar makes on its way to becoming a bomb. …We are easing back into American culture by eating wings and burgers at a brew pub and staying at a Hilton hotel that has American sized rooms and a regular pool and hot tub in place of the Onsen we have grown so accustomed too. An older American woman yells across the pool at a young Asian man for touching her unused towel and it sets in that I am going home. The three of us have our final drinks together at the Hilton hotel bar…the next time I will see Andrew will be in November when he comes to live with me for three months before moving here to Japan “for good”. I cannot express how grateful I am for Andrew, he was the instigator of this trip nearly a year ago to the day and he did an incredible job with all of the planning. Him and I exchange a big hug in the hallway. “I love you man” he says. “thank you so much” I reply. These fairwell’s are spoken as those whose friendship and lives are forever changed. I depart to my room on the 12th floor with it’s big window overlooking the bustling night of Hiroshima Japan. Tomorrow, home.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the New York Jets piece I posted yesterday. This is one of 3 projects I have had the pleasure to work with @danieldevue_colorist for the color grade and he is an absolute dream machine. Directed by @ryan__thielen Produced by @triglassproductions Edited by @benkrych Shout out to @ginnyhub and @keithmoechnig for keeping me sharp and @veelandur and @zachary.vanheel for keeping the lights on.

An excerpt from my travel journal 9/12/2024; the day we visited the grave site of the great storyteller Yasujiro Ozu, and met an elderly couple tending to his grave. ———- “In Tokyo story there is a scene where the grandparents are lying in a hotel on the western style beds that the younger generation are adopting over the the traditional futons. They lay there listening to the joyous youth outside their window and they struggle to fall asleep. In an abrupt cut we see them the next morning seated on a stone wall as silhouettes against a body of water and a mountain vista. When I watched that movie for the first time and saw that cut, I left my body. “Transcendent” as [Paul] Schrader says, “Mu” as Ozu might say. “Nothingness”. I bow [towards his grave] in honor and thankfulness to the man who created that moment. Jay takes his turn and then we begin a conversation with the couple. It is a mix of them using the little English they know and Andrew using the little Japanese he knows. The woman holds out three fingers and says. “Ozu, Three, Brothers.” She points to the middle of the three fingers and says “Ozu” she then points to the pointer finger and says “brother,” and then pointing to herself, “My father.” The woman we are talking to is Ozu’s niece. We talk about the sake bottles around the grave, the man says the gods might not be pleased at so much sake as he laughs. She beats us to the punch and asks us if she can take a photo with us, and then shows us a flyer for an Ozu retrospective event. We take many photos together and of each other and continue to talk for maybe another 20 minutes and then we say our goodbyes. Over the course of these 40 minutes in the sweltering hot sun, the hill we are on has grown taller and become a mountain, we are higher now than we have ever been on this trip. Clouds have formed around the mountain beneath us and have risen around us until everything is white. Nothingness. we begin our journey back down the mountainside to the station where we will take a train to the next town over to find the gravestone of Akira Kurosawa.” Kodak 120, Ektar 100