Born:
24 June 1940, Rome, Italy, as the son of a projectionist at LUX Film Studio.
Education:
Instituto Tecnico Fotografico 'Duca D'Aosta', Rome [1951-56; graduated as 'photography
teacher']; Centro Italiano Addestramento Cinematografico [1956-58]; Centro Sperimentale
di Cinematografia, Rome [1958-60].
Career:
After graduation from the Centro he became c.asst on 2 films before
doph Marco Scarpelli offered him the opportunity to operate, but after the
Italian film industry went into a decline he had to take a step backward and
became asst again. Later he again became c.op on feature films,
shorts and commercials.
Ph commercials dir by Francis Ford Coppola and Thomas Krygier
['You Can', 2001]. Ph the music video 'Teach Me Again' [2006; a:
Elisa & Tina Turner; d: Stefano Veneruso]. Worked for the theatre ['Das Käthchen von
Heilbronn', 1972, d: Luca Ronconi, in Zürich, and 'Orestea', 1973,
d: Luca
Ronconi, in Belgrade].
Member of the AIC since 1971 [president
from 1988-90]. Member of the ASC since 1988. Co-founder of and teacher at the
Accademia Cinematografica dell'Immagine [Academy of Arts and Sciences of
Images], L'Aquila, Italy. Received honorary citizenship of L'Aquila in February 2003. The University of
Lódz, Poland, awarded him with a
'Doctorate Honoris Causa' in Cinematography.
Wrote the trilogy 'Scrivere con la luce/Writing with
Light' [1. 'La luce/The Light' (2001), 2. 'I colori/The Colours'
(2002) & 3. 'Gli elementi/The Elements' (2003)]. A photography
exhibition based on these 3 books was organized in Naples [2004], San Sebastian,
Rome, Locarno [Switzerland, 2005], etc.
His son Fabrizio
is a visual/digital effects supervisor. With Fabrizio he invented a universal
film format called Univisium/Univision [standard 35mm with 3 perforations per frame and
an aspect ratio of 1:2]. This system also increases the running time of film
magazines by 25%.
Appearances:
Appeared/interviewee in the
doc's 'Bertolucci
secondo il cinema/The
Making of '1900''
[1975, Gianni Amelio & Giuseppe Bertolucci; 70m], 'Direttori fotografia:
Storaro/Six Kinds of Light: Vittorio Storaro' [1981, Massimo Magri &
Gianpaolo Tescari], 'Visions
of Light: The Art of Cinematography'
[1992; interviewee], 'Il leone d'argilla/Clay Lion' [1993, Silvano Agosti;
40m], 'Különbözö
helyek/Different Places'
[1995, András Fésös; 35m], 'Wiecej swiatka.
Festiwal Operatorów Filmowych Camerimage '97' [1997, Piotr Lazarkiewicz;
ph: Adam Sikora; 54m], 'Glorious
Technicolor'
[1998, Peter Jones; tv-doc/60m], 'Ljuset
hĺller migsällskap/Light
Keeps Me Company'
[1999, Carl-Gustav Nykvist; b&w/c; 78m; doc about doph Sven Nykvist], 'Una giornata con Paco
Rabal' [2001, Federico Bruno; v/40m], 'Il était une fois... Le
dernier tango ŕ Paris' [2004, Serge July & Bruno Nuytten; tv-doc/55m],
'Who
Needs Sleep? [2005, Haskell Wexler & Lisa Leeman] & 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer
(JF); ph: JF,
Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].
Awards:
NSFC Award [1972] for 'Il conformista'; 'Oscar' AA [1979], BSC Award nom
[1979] & BAFTA Film Award nom [1980] for 'ApocalypseNow';
'Oscar' AA [1982], LAFCA Award [1981] & BAFTA Film Award nom [1983] for 'Reds'; NYFCC Award
[1987], LAFCA Award [1987], 'Oscar' AA [1988], BSC Award [1988], ASC Award nom [1988],
'David
di Donatello' Award [1988], BSFC Award [1988] & BAFTA Film
Award nom [1989] for 'The
Last Emperor';
'Oscar' AA nom [1991], BSC Award nom [1990] & ASC Award nom [1991] for 'Dick
Tracy';
NYFCC Award [1990] & BAFTA Film Award [1991] for 'The
Sheltering Sky';
Camerimage 'Lifetime Achievement Award' [1994]; Cannes IFF 'Grand Prix
Technique' from the CST [1998],
Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [1998] & 'Goya' Award nom [1999] for
'Tango';
Royal Television Society 'Lighting for Multicamera' Award nom [1999-2000] for 'La
Traviata'; 'Emmy' Award [2001; for 'Part II'] & ASC Award nom [2001] for 'Dune';
Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [1999], 'Goya' Award [2000] & European Film Award [2000] for
'Goya
en Burdeos';
Camerimage 'Golden Camera'
[2000]; Taormina IFF 'Diamond Award' [2001]; ASC 'Lifetime Achievement Award'
[2001]; Coolidge Award 'honoring the spirit of original and challenging
filmmaking' [2005]; International Film Camera Festival Manaki Brothers 'Life Achievement
Award' [2005].
