Bayley Broome-Peake, a New Zealand-based cinematographer, shot Mum I'm Alien Pregnant for Sundance 2026's Midnight section with an approach to lens selection that most emerging DPs would consider impractical: three entirely different optical systems, each chosen to match a specific emotional register of the narrative. This is not the conventional wisdom of "pick one lens set and commit." This is the emerging DP's approach to the craft: let the film's emotional architecture determine the technical choices.
Broome-Peake's testing process at Imagezone New Zealand involved detailed comparison of multiple lens systems with the director to understand which glass matched which emotional moments. The selection included ARRI Master Primes | Adorama [affiliate], Cooke 1.8x SF anamorphics | Adorama [affiliate], Atlas Orion 2x Silver Series anamorphics | Adorama [affiliate], and ARRI Alura zooms | Adorama [affiliate]. Each system was tested not in isolation, but in scenes from the actual script. Broome-Peake and director THUNDERLIPS were asking: Which glass makes this moment feel true? That is a very different question from: Which lenses are available?
The Midnight section at Sundance is where genre cinema and experimental cinematography often meet. Broome-Peake's choice to use three lens systems across distinct narrative shifts suggests a film with clear emotional territories. Perhaps the Master Primes are used for clarity and presence. Perhaps the anamorphics are reserved for moments of distortion or dreaming. Perhaps the zooms provide a different kind of immediacy. The specific deployment of each system is less important than the principle: Broome-Peake asked which glass served the story, and then she committed to that answer across the shoot.
For emerging cinematographers, this approach offers a model for technical decision-making that goes beyond "what is on the truck" or "what is most affordable." Broome-Peake's method suggests that testing and director collaboration should precede equipment selection. You do not choose lenses first and then figure out what they are good for. You understand what the film needs, and then you find the glass that fulfills that need. That requires access to multiple lens systems and the discipline to test them carefully, which is a privilege that not every emerging DP has. But it is a principle that applies regardless of equipment available: the story should determine the technical choices, not the reverse.
The three-lens approach also requires something that cinematography education often undervalues: the ability to maintain visual coherence across different optical characteristics. Different lens families have different signatures. The Master Primes have one personality. The anamorphics have another. The zooms another still. Broome-Peake's job is to use those different personalities in service of a single visual argument. That requires understanding not just the technical specifications of each system, but how they work together emotionally.
Broome-Peake's work at Sundance Midnight—a section designed for emerging and experimental voices—signals something important about where cinematography is heading. The future DPs are not accepting conventional wisdom about how to light or what glass to use. They are asking what the film needs and then finding the answer, even if the answer is unconventional. That approach, applied with rigor and tested with the director before production, is how emerging cinematographers build reputations.
Three lens systems for three emotional registers. Broome-Peake tested until the glass matched the story's shape. That is how an emerging DP builds a reputation for precision.
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