The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) honored French cinematographer Yorick Le Saux with the 2026 Robby Müller Award on Saturday, with a crowd of film fans coming out to hear the DOP discussing his career and work in a wide-ranging interview after receiving the award. Some of his bold-named frequent collaborators, such as Tilda Swinton and Jim Jarmusch, as well as the likes of Blitz director Steve McQueen sent their congratulations via video messages.
Le Saux is known for his frequent collaborations with Olivier Assayas (Carlos, Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper) and François Ozon (Swimming Pool, 5×2). “His body of work includes many remarkable films with an inspirational variety of filmmakers, such as I Am Love by Luca Guadagnino, Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch, High Life by Claire Denis, and Little Women by Greta Gerwig,” the fest said about his career.
The Robby Müller award, which has become a popular part of the Rotterdam festival and is named after the late Dutch cinematographer behind the likes of Paris, Texas who is known as the “master of light,” acknowledges “the artistry of an exceptional image maker.” It is handed out in collaboration with the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers (NSC) and Andrea Müller-Schirmer. At IFFR, Le Saux’s recent films Father Mother Sister Brother and The Wizard of the Kremlin feature in the festival’s Limelight strand.
Asked about his collaborations with Swinton, Le Saux said that, “I was lucky to have her on screen three times,” namely in Julia, Only Lovers Left Alive, and A Bigger Splash. “What’s interesting and important with Tilda, she’s not only an actress, she’s really the energy of the film.”
Discussing his collaboration with Jarmusch on Only Lovers Left Alive and Father Mother Sister Brother, the DOP said: “Jimmy has his own timing on the day of the shoot. In the morning, he rehearses with the actors, he changes the script, he finds the [best] word. The script is always an evolution with him. And so, it’s super interesting in the morning to come and to see him working with the actors and trying to find the fewest shots we can do to cover this scene.”
After that, “we go to lunch, and we shoot it in the afternoon, and we have to do it in one day, because, yes, we don’t have so much time and so much budget,” Le Saux added. He concluded: “It’s crazy how he brings his charm and music inside every frame, every shot. And there’s no little shot with him. Everything is like magic in every shot.”
But Le Saux also quipped about Venice winner Father Mother Sister Brother: “It was a nightmare, because there were like 20 pages of talking around the table.” He concluded: “So, we had to find ideas. Usually, I love to move the camera, and I love to give rhythm through the camera movement. … But here, you had a 20-minute sequence around the table with people talking.”
In the end, the strong relationship and trust between the two creatives bore fruit. “Jim found a solution [for] how to shoot it and how to simplify it. Again, he brings his charm to every situation.”
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