Photo by D. Kirkland
With wife/dir Patricia Riggen
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris
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Photo by D. Kirkland |
With wife/dir Patricia Riggen Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris |
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Born: ?, Lima, Peru. His parents were Italian.
Education: [Architecture], Milan, Italy.
Career: 'My father was a liberal lawyer in Italy, who got in trouble with the fascist government in 1936. He became a jeweler in Peru. In fact, my first job was helping him fix watches and jewelry that needed to be repaired. I remember my father taking me to see Tora! Tora! Tora!, but I wasn't a big movie fan. I mainly did a lot of painting when I was a boy. After I moved to Italy when I was around 20 years old, I became a huge movie fan. It started with one of my teachers suggesting that I see a movie and watch how they used colors as a form of expression. A friend asked if I knew anything about photography. I said yes. I had taken some black-and-white still pictures a couple years ago. She took me into the next room, and introduced me as the new assistant cameraman. Pretty soon, I was traveling around the world shooting news and documentaries. I worked on 10 National Geographic documentaries, and covered news stories for NBC, CNN and CBS in the U.S., BBC in England, RAI in Italy, and TVE in Spain, from 1985 until 1994. The first [music video I shot] was when a producer friend needed someone to go to Prague to shoot B roll for an Ozzy Osbourne music video. I think he sent me, because I spoke a little German. Everyone liked what I did, so that led to chances to shoot other music videos. I've shot more than 200 music videos with a lot of talented directors and performers. I worked on a documentary with a rented Steadicam, and thought that it was a fantastic tool. A friend and I bought a Steadicam together. I was living in Argentina part time. There was a small commercial industry there, and no other Steadicam operators. Every time a commercial was produced in Argentina or Chile, where they needed a Steadicam operator, I got the job. After I did my shots, I would offer to operate the second camera or to help with the lighting or translating for people who didn't speak the language. That led to opportunities for me to shoot some 300 to 400 commercials around the world. I also operated a Steadicam on about a half a dozen movies.' [From interview with Bob Fisher on the KODAK OnFilm website.]
Ph hundreds of music videos and commercials. Married to film dir Patricia Riggen.
Awards: 'Silver Condor' Award [2006] for 'El aura'; MTV Video Music Award nom [2006] for 'Black Sweat' [a: Prince; d: Sanaa Hamri].
Website: Checco Varese
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FILMS |
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1993 |
Alive: 20 Years Later [Jill Fullerton-Smith] b&w-c/V; doc/51m; ?; ph South America: Peter Greenhalgh; ph Canada: Ivan Strasburg |
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1995 |
Solo [Norberto Barba] s35/c; co-aph (+ add c.op/Steadicam op); ph: Christopher Walling |
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1996 |
Perfect Target [Sheldon Lettich] c; 2uc (+ Steadicam op); ph: Chuy Chávez |
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1997 |
La maceta/The Flowerpot [Javier Patrón] c; short/18m; prod Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica |
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1998 |
The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Scared Silly [John Holmquist] c/V; anim + live action/40m; live action ph; live action 2uc: Eric Adkins; part 1 of 6-part series |
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1998 |
The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: The Legend of Grimace Island [Jim Duffy] c/V; anim + live action/40m; live action ph; live action 2uc: Eric Adkins; part 2 of 6-part series |
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1999 |
Por la libre/Dust to Dust/Como pez en el agua [Juan Carlos de Llaca] c |
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2000 |
Night at the Golden Eagle [Adam Rifkin] s35/c |
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2001 |
Dave Matthews Band: The Videos 1994-2001 ['Crash Into Me' (1996) & 'Don't Drink the Water' (1998) dir by Dean Karr] c/V; comp of music videos/48m; other ph: Andrzej Bartkowiak, Josep Civit & Ernest Holzman; filmed 1995-2001 |
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2001 |
La milpa/The Cornfield [Patricia Riggen] c; short/27m |
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2002 |
Moctezuma's Revenge [Jorge Riggen] dv-to-35mm/c |
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2003 |
Archipiélago [Elías León Siminiani] c; short/17m |
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2003 |
With It [Hunter Carson] c; short/11m |
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2004 |
Family Portrait [Patricia Riggen] c; doc/28m |
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2004 |
Charros [Jorge Riggen] c; short/14m |
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2004 |
El aura/The Aura [Fabián Bielinsky] s35/c |
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2006 |
La misma luna/Under the Same Moon [Patricia Riggen] c |
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2007 |
Prom Night [Nelson McCormick] s35/c |
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2008 |
The New Daughter [Luis Berdejo] s35 & D-Cinema/c |
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2008 |
A Mother's Promise: Barack Obama Bio Film [Davis Guggenheim] b&w-c; doc/10m; cph: Lee Daniel & Erich Roland |
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2009 |
Georgia [Renny Harlin] RED/c |
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TELEVISION |
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1991 |
Columbus and the Age of Discovery [various] 7-part doc series |
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1993 |
Lost Kingdoms of the Maya [Christine Weber] doc/60m; ?; ph: Robert Elfstrom, Don Lenzer, a.o.; co-addph + ph re-creations: Guillermo Navarro; a 'National Geographic Special' |
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1997 |
Lost in the Bermuda Triangle/Reunion: Journey Beyond the Bermuda Triangle [Norberto Barba] tvm; 2uc: Robert Wertheimer |
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1999 |
Primal Force [Nelson McCormick] tvm; 2uc: Guillermo Rosas |
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2000 |
Fidel [David Attwood] 2-part tvm; 2uc: Guillermo Rosas |
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2002 |
A Separate Peace [Peter Yates] tvm/s35-to-35mm |
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2003 |
Comfort and Joy [Maggie Greenwald] tvm |
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2003 |
Reno 911! [pilot dir by Michael Patrick Jann] series, 2003-present; other ph: Joe Kessler; for Comedy Central |
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2004 |
[Oprah Winfrey Presents:] Their Eyes Were Watching God [Darnell Martin] tvm |
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2004 |
Global Frequency [Nelson McCormick] unaired pilot/45m |
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2005 |
Emily's Reasons Why Not [pilot dir by Michael Patrick Jann] 7-part (6 unaired) series/HD, 2006; other ph: Alan Caso |
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2005 |
The Unit [ep #1 'First Responders' dir by Davis Guggenheim] 69-part series, 2006-09; 1st season, 2006; other ph: Krishna Rao |
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2006 |
Hustle [ep #19 'As One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, One Flew In' dir by Alrick Riley (AR) #24 'Big Daddy Calling' dir by AR] series, 2004-present; 4th season, 2007 |
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2007 |
Life [pilot 'Merit Badge' dir by David Semel] 32-part series, 2007-09; 1st season, 2007; other ph: Jerry Sidell & Michael Mayers |
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2007 |
True Blood [pilot 'Strange Love' dir by Alan Ball & ep #3 'Mine' dir by John Dahl] series, 2008-present; 1st season, 2008; other ph: Matthew Jensen & Amy Vincent |
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2008 |
Last of the Ninth [pilot dir by Carl Franklin] passed on by HBO-tv |
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2009 |
Melrose Place [pilot dir by Davis Guggenheim] (new) series, 2009-present |
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MISCELLANEOUS |
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1992 |
De eso no se habla/I Don't Want to Talk About It/We Don't Want to Talk About It [María Luisa Bemberg] Steadicam op; ph: Félix Monti |
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1993 |
The Cisco Kid [Luis Valdez; tvm] c.op 'b' cam (+ gaffer); ph: Guillermo Navarro |
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1994 |
Rough Magic [Clare Peploe] Steadicam op (Mexico); ph: John J. Campbell |
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1995 |
Solo [Norberto Barba] add c.op/Steadicam op (+ co-aph); ph: Christopher Walling |
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1995 |
The Arrival/Shockwave [David Twohy] 2u Steadicam op (Mexico); ph: Hiro Narita |
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1997 |
One Man's Hero [Lance Hool] co-Steadicam op; ph: João Fernandes |
