Showlight Day Two Recap
Day Two, Wednesday, May 21, at Showlight 2025 – the quadrennial lighting conference held this time in Dijon, France – offered a different format than Day One, with the introduction of a series of workshops for the first time at Showlight – sessions longer than the usual 20-minute talks. More on that later.
The morning sessions, moderated by Ben Diaz, started with a presentation about “Tales Of Magic,” a new nighttime spectacular that opened in January 2025 at Disneyland Paris. Creative director Tim Lutkin and lighting designer Adrien Mourey took us behind the scenes of this major show, which emphasizes the magic at Disney over the decades and the philosophy of ‘magic is not just what you see with your eyes, but also what you feel inside.’ Lutkin, also a lighting designer, noted it was the first time a lighting designer directed a lighting designer for a show like this, but they seem to have collaborated smoothly over an 18-month period. Drones, laser beams, video mapping on Main Street as well as on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and fireworks add to the magic. The 22-minute show is designed with 11 minutes of drones but in a way that the storytelling is not impacted if there are technical difficulties or weather conditions that exclude the drones.
Next up was Sophya Acosta who spoke about ‘small venues, gigantic ideas,’ and the challenges of working in smaller spaces, something she is giving up and moving on to larger venues, noting that Buenos Aires (where she lives) is the third city in the world after London and New York for the largest number of theatres. She reminded her fellow designers in the audience to take the information the space provides and use it to inform the production, as she passes the small venue torch to the next generation.
The third session featured Alba Abad and Anne Serieges, who spoke about the lighting of the Grand Palais in London as a sports venue for the fencing events at the Paris Olympic Summer Games in 2024. Challenges included blocking the natural light from the dome of this historic building with fabric as well as not having the lighting gear block the view of the dome. They also faced time challenges, spending three nights to set the moving lights and highlighting the architectural elements of what they referred to as one of the most iconic buildings in Paris.
The second group of morning sessions, moderated by Roger Simonsz, centered around the art of cinematography. The first speaker wins the prize for necessity being the mother of invention: Thierry Goron (one of two who spoke in French), who shoots frequently in Africa, where there is no traditional film equipment and no budget to buy it. His solution is to make what he needs for each shoot from found objects and household items, including remote controls for toys, Christmas lights, gutter sections, plastic pipes, skateboard wheels, etc. The goal being to leave the local filmmakers with these things so they continue to make films. He noted that even a flight case is high-tech in some places, although everyone has a cell phone so they know what exists in the rest of the world. The fun part of this presentation was that Thierry demonstrated how he makes his MacGyver objects! His philosophy is that the lack of equipment should never restrain you from making a film.
Following Thierry was David Mullen, ASC, who discussed the period lighting for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” with the primary exterior locations flipping from the Upper West Side to mid-town Manhattan to Greenwich Village, each with its own look. He also took us into various interior locations such as a Cuban nightclub with lighting inspired the 1964 film, “I Am Cuba.” He also showed a clip of a dramatic scene with theatrical lighting by Don Holder.
The third pre-lunch session featured Thierry Arbogast, AFC, who also spoke in French with live translation by Roger Simonsz. Arbogast has done the cinematography for five films by French director Luc Besson, who serves as his own camera operator. From a period-film set in Aix-en-Provence to futuristic thrillers and film noir, he showed and discussed clips with such effects as overexposed backdrops and heavy use of smoke to running water and the use of anamorphic lenses in films that define his career.
Lunch was once again time to visit with the sponsors but at 2pm the afternoon sessions got underway. These comprised a series of workshops, ranging in length from 30 minutes to two hours and featuring speakers Clifton Taylor on “Color and Light,” Sherry Coenen on “Lighting Loopholes,” Traci Klainer on “Redefining Success,” a panel on health and wellbeing with Mig Walsh, Brant Thomas Murray, Keili Camille Murray, and Grace Halton, and a panel on the SceALED project on the visual appearance of scenic objects under LED lighting featuring Véronique Perruchon, Noël Richard, and Ludwig Lepage.
Stay tuned for in-depth covergae of Clifton Taylor's workshop as well as selected Showlight 2025 sessions on Live Design Online.
Wednesday evening was the traditional Showlight dinner in a fabulous location, this time the Domaine de Vantoux, an 18th-century chateau in the countryside about ½ hour from Dijon. The 400 guests were ferried there in buses, to partake in a fabulous dinner sponsored by Robert Juliat. The buses drove down a picturesque lane with the large trees forming a canopy overhead, and through large wrought-iron gates. After tasting the local gougère cheese puffs and sipping champagne served upon arrival, dinner was served in the former orangerie of the estate, complete with speaking chandeliers and a chamber music group. The chateau was lit by Astera after the sun set, and a marvelous time was had by all, networking, meeting new friends, connecting with old ones, and enjoying the fine food and wine!
Speaker bios and additional details at https://www.showlight.org