Contrary to common assertion, La Haine was not shot in black and white but in color and then printed in black and white (a color project was thought to have better chances of attracting the needed investment). The plan was to transfer to black and white for the release, although Kassovitz at one point envisaged re-releasing the film on television in color if the black and white version was unsuccessful. For aesthetic reasons, Kassovitz also considered showing the cité part of the film in black and white and the Paris sequences in color, or the cité in 16mm and Paris in 35mm, but rejected this as ‘too dogmatic’. In the end, of course, the entire film remained in black and white, with only one brief moment towards the beginning in color, an image of the earth going up in flames. Subsequently, even this (in color in the VHS versions of the film) has been transferred to black and white, as Kassovitz now considers the insertion of color ‘hackneyed’.