Modern Arab Cinema, Trilogies, European Auteurs, and Music Videos & Commercials
Hello, ShotDeck community!
We were in the news this month! ShotDeck Co-Founder and Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer Lawrence Sher, ASC was featured this month in an IndieWire article, where he got to talk about how he sought out visual references for his newest film, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! (Spoiler alert: it was from the millions of cinematic reference images on ShotDeck).
To see stills from The Bride! as well as millions more cinematic reference images, sign up today for a free 2 week trial of ShotDeck, or download our app from the App Store.
We dropped over 54,000 new shots into our library this month. Read more about what we curated below!
FILM COLLECTION
New Releases
2026 is in full swing, which means we have added a fresh batch of the year’s newest releases into our library (as well as a couple from the tail end of 2025).
Add shots to your decks from The Bride!, Pillion, Sirat, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and Broke.
FILM COLLECTION
Trilogies
Three’s a party! This month, we curated a selection of nine classic trilogies from around the world and from different eras of cinematic history. From fantasy, to sci-fi, samurais to sports, we’ve dropped tens of thousands of shots from some beloved trilogies. Add them to your decks today!
The Back to the Future trilogy (1985, 1989, and 1990)
The Hobbit trilogy (2012, 2013, and 2014)
The I Know What You Did Last Summer trilogy (1997, 1998, and 2006)
The Spy Kids trilogy (2001, 2002, and 2003)
The Mighty Ducks trilogy (1992, 1994, and 1996)
The Better Tomorrow trilogy (1986, 1987, and 1989)
The Pusher trilogy (1996, 2004, and 2005)
The Samurai trilogy (1954, 1955, and 1956)
The Human Condition trilogy (1959, 1959, and 1961)
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
The Dardenne Brothers
In April, we dropped thousands of shots from a selection of six films from legendary Belgian filmmaking duo, the Dardenne Brothers. Born in Seraing (where most of their films are set), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have become renowned for their tense, gritty, social realist films that focus on the lives of marginalized characters from working class backgrounds. Their intense style and sociopolitical themes have made their body of work among the most distinctive of any European filmmakers from the past 50 years, and they remain among the world’s most influential filmmakers working today.
The Dardenne brothers’ films have become instantly recognizable not just for the content of their stories, but for the stylistic approach with which they are told – a stridently naturalistic aesthetic, which the British Film Institute described as one “which avoids explicit social comment, gratuitous narrative exposition, clumsy explanatory dialogue, conspicuously ‘beautiful’ imagery, flashy editing effects or virtuoso camera movements.”
Check out this month’s curation of Dardenne brothers movies – the Marion Cotillard-starring Two Days, One Night (2014), crime thriller The Child (2005), Albanian immigrant story Lorna’s Silence (2008), coming-of-age drama The Promise (1996), mystery drama The Unknown Girl (2016), and ethical thriller Young Ahmed (2019).
TELEVISION SERIES
Mo
This month, we dropped thousands of shots from both seasons of the acclaimed comedy-drama television series, Mo. Co-created by Mo Amer (who also stars in the series) and Ramy Youssef, the series is loosely based on Amer’s own life as a Palestinian refugee living with his family in Houston, Texas, straddling the line between vastly different cultures while also trying to forge a path towards U.S. citizenship. The series also stars Teresa Ruiz, Farah Bsieso, and Omar Elba. The series has earned acclaim for its writing, performances and sharp comedic timing, and in 2022 won a Peabody Award for Entertainment.
Series lead cinematographer Timothy A. Burton shot the series on the Arri Alexa LF with Zeiss Super Speed lenses, aiming to shoot with a lightweight, handheld “indie” aesthetic that didn’t try to draw too much unnecessary attention to itself visually. Burton worked with colorist Juan Ignacio Cabrera to create two simple but flexible LUTs – one for the majority of filming, and the other for flashback scenes, as a way of simplifying their shooting approach and committing to the look of the series while on set. Burton shot the series embracing the harsh natural light of Houston, creating bold images that felt aligned with the show’s storytelling and sociopolitical aspirations.
FILM COLLECTION
21st Century Arab Cinema
In April, we curated a drop of 21st century Arab movies. A culture with a long cinematic tradition, the technology of filmmaking was first brought from Europe into the Middle East towards the very end of the 19th Century, and in 1897, the Cinematographe Lumière was opened in Alexandira, Egypt, to screen films by the Lumière brothers for locals. By 1908, there were eleven movie theaters in Egypt, and Egypt soon became the dominant hub for film production in the region. With influences also coming from South Asian cinema, countries throughout the Middle East each began developing tools and styles of filmmaking in their own cultural image, and over the course of the 20th century, countries like Iran, Jordan and Lebanon became major centers for cinema in their own right.
In this collection of films from the year 2000 and onwards, we have tens of thousands of shots from films made in Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia, and more. Dive in!
FILM COLLECTION
Music Videos & Commercials
In April, we dropped over 11,000 new shots into our library from another bumper crop of music videos and commercials. Check out frames from commercials representing football teams, hotel chains, and charities, as well as music videos from indie rock heroes, rap superstars and contemporary pop stars.
COMMERCIALMarriott – “Signature Stories”
MUSIC VIDEOÓlafur Arnalds, Talos – “A Dawning”
COMMERCIALNocturne – “Nocturne” 
