By the River Visits “Death Hotels”

Caleb Ware seeks the feeling of wonder in his work, and by that measure, the imagery in the stunning short film By the River succeeds. The Camerimage Festival of Cinematography in Poland agreed, nominating the film for the Golden Frog in the Short Documentary category in 2020, one of many accolades garnered during a long festival run.

By the River is a 25-minute poetic portrait of Varanasi, the holiest of India’s seven sacred cities, a place where devout Hindus go to die in the hope of being liberated from the cycle of rebirth. So-called “Death Hotels” accommodate believers who wait for their own demise, sometimes for decades.

The film’s meditative elegance belies the intensely difficult circumstances under which it was produced. On the five-day shoot, Ware and his gaffer had a complete language barrier and communicated with gestures. For one 24-hour period, Ware went down with heat stroke. Despite that, each shot in the finished film is inventive but anchored with intent. Natural light is beautifully exposed and controlled. And Hawk V‑Lite Anamorphics play a big role in the visual language.

Director Dan Braga Ulvestad says that early conversations with Ware centered on the emotion and energy of each segment. The anamorphic format was chosen in part to emphasize the almost otherworldly feeling of the city, which culminates in cremation scenes shot in slow motion with handheld cameras. 

“There’s a fun fact about shooting in India, and it’s that there’s so much pollution that the sun is essentially always diffused,” says Ware. “For the exteriors, we were mostly picking the time of day very carefully. We wanted to keep things dark and moody, especially around the fire scenes. We deliberately set the cricket game in the middle of the day to express the harshness these kids live in. Many other scenes were saved for the beautiful light of the early mornings and late evenings.

“For the interior work, I love using hyper realism to help people engage in the story,” he says. “I had a small lighting package and the goal was to not distract, but to help us sit in those places with an almost magical or reverent feel. We set the interviews for the middle of the day, and we usually had a bit of setup time for those.”

Ware had tested Hawk C‑Series Anamorphics before, and loved them. But for By the River, he went with V‑Lites, when Charu his producer managed to track them down, preferring their light weight given the extensive Mōvi work he planned. He credits cinematographer Esteban Rivera, who served as AC on the shoot, with making the camera package work and being his second eye over the whole shoot. The package was built around an Arri Alexa Mini.

“I really wanted to change the idea that documentary has to look average,” Ware says. “Often, especially in difficult environments, the visual quality gets sacrificed for an amazing story, which is totally fair. Having worked with and been mentored by Bjorn Anderson, a great cinematographer who has created the most amazing work in some of the hardest, remote environments, I had a high bar. So I wanted to bring a set of lenses that met that standard. People asked me why we didn’t just shoot on a zoom. But I think if you’re willing to work hard and you have a crew you can trust, that kind of creative choice makes all the difference. I had no doubt we’d be able to pull it off with those lenses after some of the things Bjorn and I had done in previous jobs.”

Ware sees By the River as a big step in his nascent career as a director of photography. “I was really in the moment,” he says. “I was excited to be really shaping the project and giving it a language and life. I always want to evoke feeling through my work, and help people connect and engage with the stories and their heart. At this point it feels like a defining project for me.” 

Ware was extremely humbled to work with producer Charu Menon and director Dan Braga to bring their vision to screen adding that it was a massive team effort with all involved. 
Watch the short documentary here. 

images: Caleb Ware/Vantage Film