"LEHITRAOT" |
Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter |
| Written by: Joshua Ewert, director of photography | Date: 13.06.2026 |
 Director
of photography (+ writer and
producer) Joshua
Ewert, posing with the ARRI 765 camera."LEHITRAOT" is the world’s first short film and/or student film ever shot completely on 65mm film. It will also be the first short film / student film ever that is going to be fully printed onto 70mm print film. This is still in development and will not happen this year, hopefully next year. On top of that, it is also the first film ever to bring back Kodak 5247 and 5298 color and tone look characteristics aswell as their respective print stocks 5384 and 2386 in an accurate color engineering post-production. We did not grade this movie, we used „old school“ printer light technique used prior to DI workflows. • Go to gallery Shot in 65mm with ARRI 765 • Go to gallery Behind the scenes "LEHITRAOT" began as a short film idea in 2021, while I was studying at the University Offenburg in Germany. It started as a fiction story inspired by many tales I’ve heard from relatives, friends and strangers over the years. I grew up in France next to the German border and WW2 stories have always been very present. The idea was to make a film about a hero that did nothing heroic per se. No soldier, no scientist who cracked nazi codes but a simple man with empathy and love. Later that year I met director Noah R. Lischka. He was studying at University Offenburg as well. We spend a lot of time talking about films and at some point, he said something along those lines:
That’s when he joined that project and
worked on the script as a co-writer. |
More in 70mm reading: Arriflex's ARRI 765 Camera System A Visit to ARRI in München, Germany "Apollo 11" Official press release Ron Fricke & Mark Magidson and The Making of "Samsara" in70mm.com News Peripheral Vision, Scopes, Dimensions and Panoramas in70mm.com's Library Presented on the big screen in 7OMM 7OMM and Cinema Across the World Now showing in 70mm in a theatre near you! 70mm Retro - Festivals and Screenings |
 "LEHITRAOT"
65mm frame blow-up with actor Jean-François Kopf.After shooting his grad film "Black Feathers of the Dove" in late 2022, we started prepping for "LEHITRAOT". The initial idea was to shoot on 35mm 4-perf. We wanted the bigger negative but decided against anamorphic for a couple of reasons. So 35mm 3-perf was the game plan. I had previously seen "Samsara" and I was absolutely blown away but it wasn’t until I saw "Apollo 11", the documentary, that I immediately knew I wanted to shoot "LEHITRAOT" on 65mm film. Not only was it 50+ year old footage that looked like it was shot yesterday, but the way of transporting the viewer to a reality that is long gone was what really attracted me. That’s when we thought about shooting on 65mm even tho it seemed impossible at the time. After some initial pushback, I decided to reach out to ARRI Rental Munich. I got a reply from former Key Account Manager Bastian Prützmann and he wanted to meet me and discuss the project. After the first call he said:
And that was when the first gear started
moving. |
|
 Directing a scene from "LEHITRAOT" with actors Zoe
Straub and
Jean-François Kopf in front of the ARRI 765 camera and director Noah R.
Lischka next to the ARRI 765. Fast forward about a year later, in August 2023, we shot "LEHITRAOT" in about 16 days, in France, using two Arriflex 765 bodies and just shy of 20.000 feet of 5213 and 5219. This whole project has been a wild ride and quite an experience. More than once, we had to face logistical nightmares that seemed impossible to overcome. Let’s not forget that the whole team consisted of students and that the budget was extremely tight as well. The post-production took a little over a year because we had to deal with a lot of different problems that came along. One of them was the sound, as the 765 is still producing some sound, especially in small confined spaces. The music was composed and conducted by my dear friends Michael Firmont and Lars Hempel. We were lucky to have a quartet to play the score that we recorded live, on a stage. The film ended up being 43 minutes long, including credits. We are now planning a worldwide release on 70mm film. Eventually, we wanted to make a BluRay version with a special monochrome cut as well as a detailed making-of the film. But that’s going to take some time. |
|
"LEHITRAOT" Cast & Credits (Coming soon) |
|
 Compete
Cast
& Credits Coming soon"LEHITRAOT" (0:42) Filmed in: 65mm 5 perforations, 24 frames per second. Principal photography in: ARRI 765. Presented in: 4K DCP & BluRay (Expected later in Todd-AO format with 6-track DATASAT stereo). Aspect ratio: 2,21:1. Country of origin: Germany. Production year: 2023. World Premiere: ______ Film Festival. , __.__.202_. German premiere: __.__.202_. Directed by Noah R. Lischka. Written by Joshua Ewert, Noah Lischka. Produced by Joshua Ewert, Noah Lischka. Music by Michael Firmont and Lars Hempel. Cinematography by Joshua Ewert. Film Editing by Joshua Ewert. Starring Zoe Straub, Jean-François Kopf, Paul Ahrens, Nicolas Casar-Umbdenstock, Iris Consiglio, Mélanie Consiglio, Jeroen Engelsman, Pierre Kiwitt, Dominik Preiser, Daniel Zielinski |
|
 • Go to "LEHITRAOT" - The world’s first short film and/or student film shot in 65mm |
|
| Go: back - top -
news -
back
issues Updated 09-07-26 |