Shooting Intimacy, Using Natural Light, and Throwing Away the Plan

"We don't often see these complex characters that are not only pregnant, but also have desires, and they have more agency," cinematographer Ksusha Genenfeld told us before SXSW.

That instinct to find and protect the full humanity of a character on screen is important to Genenfeld's approach. The Los Angeles-based DP is a Loyola Marymount grad whose credits span the Shudder horror feature A Wounded Fawn and a roster of high-profile music videos. She brings a grounded, intimate visual language to bold, character-driven stories.

Her latest, __PERFECT , premiered at SXSW 2026. Directed by self-taught English filmmaker Millicent Hailes, the film follows Kai, a woman living out of her car after a bad breakup in a world ravaged by contaminated water. When she discovers a hidden, thriving lake, she finds a community of misfits and an unexpected romance with Mallory, a wealthy pregnant woman with secrets of her own.

We spoke with Genenfeld before SXSW about visual storytelling, shooting intimacy with a skeleton crew, and what happens when the plan falls apart on set.

'PERFECT'Courtesy of SXSW

Editor's note: The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

No Film School: How did you get involved in this project? What drew you to it?

Ksusha Genenfeld: We got connected through my agent, so it's not a very glamorous story of how we met. But when we first chatted with Millicent, who's the director, it was just love at first sight. We connected so fast, and I read the script in one go because I really, really connected with the themes and the topic of the movie. I think I love coming-of-age stories, and this one is one of those films.

I think to me it's a new thing because our main character, who is played by Julia Fox, is a pregnant woman. And I think we don't often see these complex characters that are not only pregnant, but also have desires, and they have more agency. I think oftentimes in our society when people see pregnant women, it's almost like they're stripped of their identity a little bit. And so I just really love that this film was very complex and delved deep into this character who just happens to be pregnant.

And when do you ever get to see a queer story of two women having sex on screen when one of them is pregnant? It just felt very kind of badass and revolutionary in a way. So I was just really excited to do it.

NFS: As you are clicking with your director, how did you start talking about the vision and visual language of this world?

KG: It was very important tonally and stylistically for us to be on the same page. I know Millicent was really drawn to really naturalistic lighting. And for us, composition and how we shot the film were very important because we wanted to show the connection that the two characters have.

At first, they start to get really close, so we wanted to do a lot of over-the-shoulder shots that felt like they're connected.

And then throughout the movie, there is a bit of a disconnect that's happening. So we wanted to separate them. So all the shots we did were all very clean. We didn't see them in the same space. And if they were in the same space, if there was a two-shot, they were very far apart, versus at the beginning of the film.

We wanted to show this extreme intimacy that they were experiencing. So there's a lot of POV shots, there's lots of closeups to feel like you're almost—I like this idea of filming something where it feels like you're not supposed to be there as a viewer watching it, feeling like you're almost seeing these intimate moments that you're not supposed to see. So we wanted to really embody that and hold these intimate moments with them.

And the whole film is just very dynamic and really fun. We did a lot of handheld shots, and I talked to Millicent about the arc of each character because that was also very important to us. We had a fairly rushed prep, and so we would meet every day for six to 10 hours a day and just dissect the script, and dive in, and try to explore as much as possible before shooting on set.

NFS: What was your approach to using natural light, and how much did you have to shape or influence it?

KG: We wanted to use the natural light as much as possible because we felt that that's what the world really deserved and needed. The whole world that we created was very hot and dry, and we needed to show that the sun was kind of blasting on people's faces. That was really important to us because there's a concept of water scarcity there. When people are watching the film, it's very warm.

Obviously, natural light was a big part of it. Our gaffer, Kay Zhou, was just so lovely to work with, and she really helped us shape the light. So we did a mixture of, if you have a character in the backlight, I just used a bounce card or some negative fill. But when we had straight-on shots, we used some diffusion. So we did shape it quite a bit.

I think also because our characters had different skin tones and complexions, we had to, for Julia, use a little bit more of softer diffusion, just so she wouldn't pop and glow too much in the sun.

'PERFECT'Courtesy of SXSW

NFS: Can you talk about the challenges of shooting intimacy and how you approached it?

KG: We had an amazing intimacy coordinator, Darci Fulcher. Especially as a woman DP—and I used to be an actor, as well—I think understanding what it's like to shoot these intimate scenes, having been on the other side of the camera, I really wanted to make everybody feel very, very comfortable.

So me, Millicent, Ashley [Moore], Julia, and Darci had extensive prep of just going through the motions of how each scene is going to transpire. We just talked a lot about what everybody felt comfortable with, which was really helpful. And that way, in prep, we're all used to each other, we all know each other.

I think it is so important to know the actors and get close to them. That's something that I really enjoy as the DP, creating that trusting relationship where the last thing they want to think about is, "How do I look on camera?" They feel that they have that trust in me to portray them in a way that they know they're going to look great, and things are just going to work mechanically.

And then when we're actually shooting those intimate scenes, we decided to just have them and me on set, and that was it. It was just the three of us. We didn't even have sound on set. Millicent was behind the monitor watching the performances. So I think that made it really natural for them to feel like it was just almost just the two of them in the room, and I was just kind of there catching these beautiful moments between the two.

I've actually never shot an intimate scene that way. I feel like I've always had a lot more people on set, but it felt very organic. And watching the film now, it feels like we caught these intimate moments that we're almost not allowed to see, but we got to be there with them.

NFS: Was there one day or one sequence where you had to really figure out a shot, and how did you tackle it?

KG: So, as we all do, we were running out of time, and we were behind schedule, and it was this really fun scene that we had—a bonfire scene of everybody partying.

Me and Kay Zhou, the gaffer, we got a balloon light for that scene. So it was a very important scene for us to get, and we only had maybe an hour to shoot it because we were just running a little bit behind. The struggle was really to figure out, because we had, I don't know, 12 or 14 shots to do for that one scene, but we had one hour.

And it was kind of a little bit of chaos, but we put the balloon light up, and we had the bonfire going, and we got it to the right height with the pyrotech. And we just had somebody behind me with a little light just to give the actors the eyelight.

So we put everybody almost in a circle, and I was just able to pan around each actor. It was almost like we were doing a play. They just started from the very top to the very bottom of the scene, and I just ran around with the camera and got a bunch of moments.

At first, we were thinking, "How are we going to do this?" But it actually came out as such a better scene because there's so much energy, and you can feel the chaos in the camera movement. The scene also has this urgency in it, and so it just kind of miraculously all came together.

I love these moments on set when you have a plan, and you have to throw it away, and you start from scratch. I always like to think that it's almost these happy accidents that happen that make the film better. And that's what happened that day.

Yeah, it was just balloon light, fireplace on fire, and a little Lightsock for eyelights—and honestly, almost like you're just dancing around with the actors. So it was very stressful, but also very fun at the same time.

NFS: Is there one thing you learned from this project that you're going to take with you?

KG: I think one thing that I've learned from this project is not to be afraid of making bold choices.

Our director, Millicent, is just so unapologetic and has such a clear vision. Sometimes it could be a big ask to do certain things—have a scene transpire in a certain way, do everything in the water, put people in hard light. So I really learned a lot from working with her because she was just always like, "F*ck it, let's do it."

And I think as a DP, I always try to embody that, but sometimes I get very precious with my lighting, and I get precious with setups. The big thing that I learned is that sometimes throwing away the plan could create magic, and it's okay to try things I'm not used to, like putting characters in direct sunlight, because in my DP brain, I'm like, "They have to look beautiful, and I have to soften the light."

But then Millicent's like, "Well, that's the point. This film is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable."

It's all about youth, and these young adults are all kind of going through so many changes. So having cinematography that feels a little bit rougher and grittier is the look—it's the way to go.

And again, I think on any project I do, I just learn so much from my collaborators. Millicent has also just become such a dear friend, and I'm always inspired by her because she never takes no for an answer. She's like, "We're doing this. We're going to figure it out." Her energy is just so infectious.