PRODUCTION JOACHIM AND THE APOCALYPSE
“The fatigue, the mysticism and the transcendence – it was all right there ”
From shooting on the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K to a fully integrated picture-post pipeline, the Delta Star Pictures team share how they crafted Joachim and the Apocalypse
F ollowing its success at the Italian box office, 2024’s Joachim and the Apocalypse – a feature film directed by Jordan River – continues its journey internationally with a recent debut in the United States at the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival. Set during the Crusades, the movie follows the final days of the monk and visionary theologian Joachim of Fiore. At the heart of the story is his radical interpretation of the apocalypse and the prophecy of the Third Epoch, which put his teachings at odds with the church. Produced by Delta Star Pictures in Rome, the film was directed by River and lensed by DOP Gianni Mammolotti, AIC. The Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K was chosen as the principal camera. “Despite shooting digital, the URSA Mini Pro 12K delivered an organic and natural-looking image with incredible
colour depth and a smooth roll-off in the highlights,” Mammolotti shares. The production opted for a lens package comprising both Cooke and Xeen optics, which balanced the need for a cinematic aesthetic with the practicality of shooting on real locations. “Instead of building expensive sets, we embraced authentic medieval locations,” says Mammolotti. “We filmed in villages across Calabria and Lazio, in Cistercian abbeys – as well as remote, snow-covered landscapes – to get a raw, historical feel.” “The Mount Tabor sequence was a race against the setting sun, trying to capture every nuance and detail before the sun disappeared behind the mountains,” recalls Mammolotti. In the medieval interiors, including abbeys, scenes were lit only by torches and candles to maintain authenticity.
“We worked at 1250 ISO to keep the shadows clean while preserving the natural softness of the firelight,” he adds. “In the tonsure scene, we used strong backlighting inside the San Giovanni in Fiore Abbey, which was from sunlight streaming through a glass window. Despite the challenges this presented, the images retained the full tonal range in the shadows and on the protagonist’s skin, delivering a very natural result.” The intensity of the scene ended up exceeding all expectations. “The actor was completely immersed in the moment, and managed to convey such emotional depth, that nothing else was needed. The fatigue, the mysticism and the transcendence – it was all right there,” Mammolotti reveals. A wide aperture helped shape key shots, according to Mammolotti. “We shot lots of sequences at T2.8, keeping
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