DP Marzouk’s intuitive approach clicked with Vantage One4s
Nomad Shadow is a feature film that portrays a young woman who feels her hard-won independence slipping away when she is deported from Spain and returns her native Western Sahara region. During prep and on the shoot, director of photography Frida Marzouk found that Vantage One4 large format spherical lenses offered the perfect combination of optical characteristics and convenience.
Lighting and camera movement had to work with a cast of non-actors in real locations. Many decisions about blocking and framing were made spontaneously on the set.
“We needed to be able to catch what happened,” says Marzouk. “We didn’t really have rehearsals. We created sequences on the fly, within shots. You look for it, you catch it, you try it again another way. And in the editing room it all comes together.”
However, the filmmakers did plan certain other sequences more carefully, to emphasize that the audience is seeing the point of view of the main character.
“In those situations, we would shoot until we got all the characters’ movements right,” she says. “That was challenging with a cast of non-actors.”
Most of the film fell into one of two time periods, the present and the past.
“We decided that the present time should be shot vérité-style, handheld, although we did have some lighting,” says Marzouk. “The goal was to faithfully communicate how she perceives the experience of returning home. I tried to be very in sync, especially in the follow shots, so that the audience doesn’t feel the camera trying to catch the actors.”
For the flashbacks, the camera was often on Steadicam, and the action was more staged and theatrically lit to feel more like a memory.
For the handheld, verité scenes, Marzouk operated the camera. “It’s very hard for me to give the camera to someone else,” she says. “It’s your intuition, your feelings. I don’t think I could watch on the monitor while somebody else follows the character around. Once I connect to an actor, observing and learning from them, I really enjoy following them, being close and in tune with their movements. I believe that I’m sensitive to gestures, and to the beauty in each character. Physical proximity is a big thing for me. I feel I need to have a sort of intimacy with the actors, even if it’s unspoken.
“That’s why the Vantage One4 large format lenses are my favorites – the close focus allows you to be so near the actors,” she says. “I shot most of the film on the 35 mm, which is the focal length I like for handheld, close shooting. You can go in for a closeup and also get a medium shot with the same lens.”
For Nomad Shadow, the camera was an ARRI Mini LF, so the large format Vantage One4s aligned perfectly. “I thought the One4s were absolutely the right choice for this film,” she says. “I wanted something soft, but also, there is contrast. For the skin tone, for the contrast, the softness, the way the sun flares – it’s just so beautiful. There are no flaws or distortions, but everything feels a little dreamy because it’s not too sharp. For closeups, I almost always shot wide open, because the image gets a kind of blur around it, which I used to give a very flattering, portrait-like feel to the characters.”
Marzouk points out that changing the stop offers a variety of textures and traits.
“You can do several things with one lens,” she says. “You can work closeups a certain way, and wide shots another. It’s almost like you have several sets of lenses in that one set. Especially on an independent film where you don’t have much money, that’s a big plus.”
Nomad Shadow celebrated its premier at the 2025 TIFF awards.
Watch the trailer here.
images: Frida Marzouk
