‘September 5’ Finds an Epic Scope in Tight Confines Thanks to Its Cinematography

The film “September 5” tells a story of global and historical importance and consequence — that of the terrorist attack during the 1972 Olympics Munich, where a team of Israeli athletes were taken hostage and ultimately killed — but tells it mostly from the point of view of the television studio where ABC Sports was producing its coverage of the event. By focusing on the television crew reacting to the horror and making on-the-spot decisions about how to most ethically broadcast it, director Tim Fehlbaum creates a compelling film with an epic scope comprised almost entirely of cramped interiors filled with analog filmmaking equipment.

Finding a visual language to express the experience of journalists who were themselves creating a visual language for an unprecedented event was the task of cinematographer Markus Förderer, who has worked with Fehlbaum several times and immediately fell in love with the director’s approach to “September 5.” “As both a cinematographer and an audience member, I like films that have a very clear point of view,” Förderer told IndieWire. “This was a global phenomenon, and everybody was glued to their televisions. How do we tell this visually? The story needs to stay very focused and small, but how can we add scope to that for the audience?”

The perspective was even more limited given that the main TV studio set had no windows, but Förderer and Fehlbaum came up with an effective solution. “We decided to make the televisions the windows to the world,” Förderer said. Production designer Julian R. Wagner created a set filled with monitors, and the filmmakers worked to fill those monitors with archival footage or recreations that would play on set so that the actors could react to them. The effect is subtle but remarkable, as the images fuse with the action of the actors in the viewer’s mind, leaving the film feeling more epic than it might appear.

“We always said that if we did it right, the audience would come out of the film not sure if they saw something for real or just watched somebody watching it on a screen,” Förderer said. Early drafts of the script left the studio, but Förderer says that was all dialed back with each revision until the filmmakers arrived at the strict point of view they adhered to for the final version. “I think it makes it stronger because we always say nothing is as strong as our imagination. We hint at things, but I think seeing a character watching or observing can be the most powerful thing.”

Even in the most extreme close-ups, Förderer often used reflections of the monitors in the characters’ glasses to give both a broad perspective and an intimate reaction in the same shot. “It’s very subtle, but again it helps us get that scope,” Förderer said. “Even in the tight shots you feel the world reflected.”

‘September 5’©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

The filmmakers had access to a wealth of archival footage and used it to great effect, particularly in scenes showing ABC broadcaster Jim McKay as he provides running commentary on the events. While the real McKay footage was used, in other cases the filmmakers opted to recreate archival footage out of sensitivity to the people involved. “Out of respect for the hostages’ families, we didn’t want to show any of the real hostages or terrorists,” Förderer said. “That was all reenacted with actors very precisely using the original footage to try to figure out the exact camera positions where the ABC team would have been.”

Although there were initial discussions about shooting “September 5” on film in order to approximate a period look, Förderer ultimately found that shooting digitally at 8K resolution gave him the greatest flexibility. To soften the look he used vintage lenses — including one of the first zoom lenses ever made, which he found on eBay and converted for use on his modern camera — and often shot 16mm footage on set to use as a reference in the color grade. Looking at the archival materials, he found that there was an unusual look that he wanted to replicate.

“It was not just that they shot all the news footage on film back then, but they didn’t have computers or hard drives or film scanners,” Förderer said. “They did what’s called telecine, where the 16mm film is basically shot with an analog video camera. So they’d have it in this telecine and when they needed to show a piece while broadcasting live they’d hit play on the recorder, but it’s not even a scan — it’s a nice hybrid between film and video. That look was all an inspiration.”

Although it’s about an incident that’s over 50 years old, and although that incident has already served as subject matter for several documentaries and feature films, “September 5” feels immediate and relevant thanks to its thoughtful consideration of the ethical implications of filming news, especially when that news is violent or politically charged. In exploring the ways that the ABC Sports team approached their task, Förderer found himself reflecting on his own role as a filmmaker — and on the greater responsibility we all share in a world where we have cameras in our pocket that can disseminate information all around the world with a click.

“Seeing what it took back then, what went into capturing and creating an image and how complicated the technical apparatus was to share it with the world, made me really think about today,” Förderer said. “We go on Instagram Live or we take pictures and share stuff on social media without spending much thought on it, but our images have power. What we show and what we don’t show is so important.” Förderer found himself asking these questions about the very movie he was making, especially in the moments where he was dramatizing horrific moments.

“I always felt a responsibility knowing these are historic events, and I wanted to do them justice,” Förderer said. “There’s no easy answer about what to show and what not to show. What is it OK to show, and whose story are you telling, even if you try to be objective? I think the interesting thing about ‘September 5’ is that all these questions are raised, and everyone who works in the media has to make their own decisions. It’s up to the viewer just to think about it.”

“September 5” will play in select theaters beginning December 13 before expanding nationwide on January 17.