The Kugel Look
“Kugel” was all about finding the balance between honoring the beloved world of “Shtisel” while pushing the boundaries to create something new and visually distinct.
Shtisel, created by Ori Elon and Yehonatan Indursky, is a successful Israeli TV series that premiered in 2013 on YES TV. Produced by Abot Hameiri Barkai Production Company, the show is recognized for its authentic depiction of a Haredi family in Jerusalem. With three seasons on Netflix, Shtisel has gained a worldwide following for its empathetic and human portrayal of Haredi life, without falling into stereotypes.
Kugel is a new series created and written by Indursky, focusing on the characters Nuchem and Libbi Shtisel (Sasson Gabai and Hadas Yaron) within the Jewish community of Antwerp, before they arrived in Israel during season 2 of Shtisel.
Shtisel, but different
Director Erez Kavel, Production Designer Shunit Aharoni, and I had no part in the production of the original Shtisel. Dikla Barkai, producer of both shows, asked that we maintain a connection with Shtisel’s fans while also broadening its visual style and refreshing the artistic discussion surrounding it.
The visual style of Shtisel is simple and understated. The minimalist approach avoids excess, reflecting the Haredi lifestyle depicted in the show. Small details, like a hard-boiled egg and a sliced pickle in a basic kitchen, enhance the authentic portrayal of life within clear and restrained boundaries. However, for Kugel, the goal was to create a distinct difference in style from the ascetic Shtisel.
A new backdrop
One assumption was that the new location would significantly help differentiate Kugel from Shtisel. The story of Kugel doesn't take place in Mea She'arim but in Antwerp. With its diverse urban landscape, this new setting stands in stark contrast to the insular and traditional atmosphere of Mea She'arim.
But a concern was brought up that images of Haredi characters in a European winter, combined with the severe cinematic tone of Shtisel, might unintentionally evoke gloomy images, reminiscent of dark times for Antwerp Jews. By now, you’re probably wondering, "Where the hell is Antwerp, anyway?" It's in Belgium.
The storytelling is the message
We didn’t want to make a somber series. Instead, we aimed for a type of storytelling that could express the subtle gravitas with which the characters approach the darker parts of the human experience, like deceit, broken hearts, missed opportunities, stolen dreams, and, of course, death. The show balances dark themes with a mix of humor and resilience, allowing the story to be meaningful without becoming overly heavy.
In this regard, Jewish-American writer Isaac Bashevis-Singer comes to mind as stating that "The storytelling is the message." In other words, the way, or form, we tell the story—is the story's message. Our search for Kugel's ‘message’ began with the characters of Nuchem and Libbi, who are already familiar from Shtisel. We wanted to create the cinematic experience through their perspective and stay true to the ‘movie’ they live in—or in this case, the ‘novel’ they live in. Libbi writes herself into stories, which are accompanied by her novelistic narration as a kind of fable, while Nuchem comforts widows with heartwarming tales of "gifts from the dead".
What stands out most about Nuchem’s character is his sense of humor. Nuchem’s motto is: "The most important thing in life is to distinguish between ‘Important’ and ‘Trivial’ and always, always focus on the Trivial." Although Nuchem's worldview is expressed in the dialogues, Erez and I were looking for a way to express it visually as well, throughout the entire story, not just when Nuchem is speaking on screen.
Naturally, we sought inspiration from the masters of dark humor, the Coen brothers. The way they depict human folly as both tragic and amusing generally aligned with our goals for Kugel. But one film the Coens wrote (with Matt Charman) received a different kind of treatment from a different kind of storyteller, Steven Spielberg, in the film Bridge of Spies (2015).
Set during the Cold War era, Bridge of Spies tells the true story of James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks), an insurance lawyer who becomes embroiled in international espionage and diplomatic negotiations, as he is recruited to defend Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a Soviet spy captured by the United States.
Bridge of Spies
So, winter in East Berlin, the Cold War, moral dilemmas, and negotiations over human lives. On paper, it couldn’t be farther from Kugel, in content and in tone. Yet I remembered it as a film with a wink—enjoyable, not bleak. I revisited it and focused on the darker moments in the story, like the scene where Abel comes to terms with the possibility of being sent to the electric chair, and Donovan asks if he's worried, to which Abel responds, "Would it help?" Or the scene where shots are fired into Donovan's home as retribution for defending a spy. With a small mob gathering outside Donovan’s house, even the policemen are not on his side.
What I liked about the way Spielberg and Kaminski treated these dark moments, is that they also have a point—they succeed in provoking thought, not just emotion. The cinematic approach kept the viewers safe from being overwhelmed with concern for the characters, but managed to do so without stripping the events of their seriousness. Thus, Bridge of Spies became a unique source of inspiration for the cinematography of Kugel..
A lighthearted format
Bridge of Spies was filmed in 2.39:1 Cinemascope aspect ratio. The wide format allows for layered compositions with plenty of room for humor. It's a light and airy format. A monologue of one character can be commented on by funny reactions of other characters in the same frame, and up close too.
In Kugel there are many scenes of our two protagonists together. The kitchen-table scenes needed a close and intimate camera setup to capture both characters well. A standard 16:9 format would have forced us to pull the camera back or use a much wider lens which would make the location look way bigger than it actually is. We often worked in small spaces that needed to look small, and anyway didn't allow for distance. So already the wide canvas made sense.
Dating scenes in particular required a similar treatment. Orthodox dates usually occur at a greater distance than secular ones. Yet, it was important for us to create a sense of intimacy and include both characters in the same frame. A two-shot taken from far away can make the already distant characters feel alienated.
Libbi and Yoilish (Roy Nik) on a first date
Another way to lighten the atmosphere was the use of location with the wide format. The story emphasizes the characters' relationships with the place, with the city, and the Jewish neighborhoods. The entire series was shot in Antwerp, and we wanted to make the most of the location. Even in close-ups of the characters, the wide aspect ratio enabled us to benefit from the streets and people or the view from the window in the tram. A non-wide format would only have room for faces up close, without place.
The Hawk V-Lites
So it was decided - Kugel was to be shot in Cinemascope with anamorphic lenses, and now it was time to pick the glass. Kugel isn’t the first show I shot in Cinemascope with anamorphic lenses. ‘On the Spectrum’ (directed by Yuval Shafferman for YES TV) was shot and aired in 2.39:1. We used the 'Perfect' rectilinear Arri Master Anamorphics, specifically to avoid any distorted aesthetic that might ridicule the characters. But Kugel needed something different.
Unlike Arri’s Master Anamorphics, the Hawk V-Lite lenses used by Spielberg and DP Janusz Kaminski on Bridge of Spies, introduced some barrel distortion but without falling into caricature. Even in the darkest parts of the story, there is something almost endearing about how locations and people appear on screen. The locations seem almost humanized by these lenses, making even the most somber moments a little easier to swallow, and the characters look, for lack of a better word - cute.
The fusion of the slightly distorted form with the dark content works really well for Bridge of Spies. I felt that unlike the characters of On the Spectrum, Nuchem and Libbi could take this distortion gracefully. These are not ‘funny’ or ‘weird’ lenses, but they do have a sense of humor.
So we shot some tests with the same lens set used by Spielberg and Kaminski - Vantage Hawk 2.0x V-Lite anamorphic lenses. Initially we imagined Kugel in a wide 2.39:1 format as well. But when examining our test footage with the V-Lites, we realized that some adjustments were needed for the small screen.
When I watched Bridge of Spies in the cinema, almost a decade ago, I barely noticed the distortion nor found it distracting. On a big screen, this element fades away to the periphery of our field of view. But on a small TV screen, it becomes extremely noticeable. The curved edges of the frame, especially with vertical lines like door frames or prison bars, are very dominant and sometimes distracting. So, we tried slightly narrower formats to crop out some of the distorted edges but retain the character of these lenses. Eventually, we went for 2.2:1, a taller format, familiar from IMAX 70mm films.
This format filtered out some of the distortion, but it focused too much on the sharp center of the glass, rendering a very clinical look. So we added a 1/8 HBM (Hollywood Black Magic) low-contrast filter and also opened the camera gate to record the full height of the sensor. This way, we could capture softer areas of the glass and introduce some vintage character to the look of the show.
Not close enough
There was one drawback to the lenses when it came to the type of shots we wanted and the way we wanted to move the camera. Part of our approach was to add momentum to scenes where it fit. This involved many scenes taken in a single moving master, with dynamic blocking and changes to the composition. Our challenge was to avoid cutting to inserts as much as possible and instead incorporate them into the master. For example, the camera would start in a full shot of a character, push in for a close-up of an engraving on their book or a message on their phone, and then allow the character to retreat to a long shot.
Unfortunately, the V-Lites didn't allow for that type of shot due to their close-focus limitation. Except for the 28mm, which can focus from 80cm away, the limit for all the other lenses is 1 meter. This limitation is not uncommon for anamorphics, and we could easily overcome it with diopters, but at a price - no far-focus. That wasn't going to cut it for what we had in mind, which was extreme close-focus and far-focus in the same shot.
Lucky for us, the range of the V-Lites focal lengths was recently expanded to include the new Hawk V-Lite 55 mm/T2.2 Macro, capable of extreme close focus. Lites in Belgium did not have this lens as it is quite rare and also not available on the public market, but they were able to get it from Vantage Brussels. It cost extra but was totally worth it. The 55 Macro was probably the most used lens on the show.
In these long takes, precision and artistry of the focus pulling were essential, along with the complex camera moves in tight spaces handled by the grip team. The lighting setups had to allow to us pan and tilt the camera freely in any direction, 360 degrees, without obstacles. The team’s work was key to creating the immersive experience we wanted for Kugel.
As filmmakers, we often wrestle with the tension between innovation and familiarity. With Kugel, our hope is that the audience will find comfort in the familiar faces of Nuchem and Libbi, while also embracing the freshness of their new world. The technical choices we made were not just about aesthetics; they were about shaping an emotional experience that stays true to the essence of the characters and the humor and resilience that define them.
Camera: Alexa35
Aspect ratio: 2.2:1 Anamorphic
Lenses: Vantage Hawk V-Lite
1st AC: Nathan Lederman | 2nd AC: Idan Datauker | 3rd AC: Lukas Martens
Gaffer: Tinus Dam
Grip: Steven Van Den Broeke
Best Boy: Mattijs Van Doninick
Trinity Op: Sven Joukes
Lites Rental House: Stefan Bruylants, Patricia Vos, Jan Vervaecke, Stijn Berghman and Lars Nica
Vantage: Philippe Piron