L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 4 LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY Continued from page 1 '50s. He happened to bring home a dismissed film projector along with some pieces of film. In the evening, my brother and I – aged 7, or so - used to watch those images from Charlie Chaplin's, City Lights, projected on a wall in our little courtyard. Similarly to Salvatore, the lit- tle protagonis t in G ius eppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso, once in a while, I used to spend time at my father's work. I used to peek through the little glass square, by which one could see whether the focus of the compo- sition was right or not. By watching screening after screening, I gradually developed the desire to become part of the projected images myself. After studying photography for five years, since I was still too young to enter the Centro sperimentale di cinematografia - major national film school in Rome - I enrolled at C.I.A.C. (Italian Cinemagraphic Training Centre) for two years. Finally, I passed the entry examination for the Centro sper- imentale. With no doubt, the fol- lowing two years of exploration into cinematography, were the best of my life. Tell us more about working w ith I talian filmmak er, Bern ard o Bertolu cci, for whose films – from 1970 to '93 – you curated the cinematog- raphy. In 1963, I had the fantastic opportunity to work as camera assistant for my friend, Camillo Bazzoni, who was camera oper- ator for cinematographer Aldo Scavarda. Camillo told me that he was about to work on a movie direct- ed by an up-and-coming film- maker, to be shot in Parma, near his home town, Salsomaggiore Terme. That rising star of cinema was none other than Bernardo Bertolucci. Thus , our firs t encounter occurred as he was about to direct his first real film, Before the Revolution (1964), after the experience of directing The Grim Reaper (1962), still deeply influenced by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Later, I became a camera operator with late cinematogra- pher, Marco Scarpelli. In 1968, Italian director Franco Rossi view ed the s hort, Rappor to Segreto, by Camillo Bazzoni, for which I had curated the cine- matography. Franco was about to shoot Y outhful Y outhful, bas ed on Luigi Preti's novel, Giovinezza, giovinezza. That was my debut as cinematographer and the first time I had the chance to fully express myself. S oon after, Bernardo Bertolucci called me on the phone. He confided me he had gone through a difficult period and wanted to start from scratch. H e offered me to be a cine- matographer for his small film, to be produced by RA I, T he Spider's Stratagem (1970), one of my early works in colors. After a parenthesis, working for Dario Argento's The Bird w i t h t h e C r y s t a l P l u m a g e (1970), Bertolucci offered me a g a i n t o c o l l a b o r a t e o n T h e Conformist (1970). F r o m t h a t m o m e n t o n , Bernardo and I embarked on a journey together, that lasted twenty-five years, up until Little Buddha (1993). N o d o u b t t h a t B e r t o l u c c i gave me the great "imprint" in my creativity. We had a very good relationship not only on a human level, but also as artists. Most of times, he used symbols that unconsciously suggested the story in the audience, instead of directly recounting the plot. In the same way, I used lights and shadows to visualize the movie. How did you get to work with Francis Ford Coppola in t h e B e s t C i n e m a t o g r a p h y Oscar recipient, Apocalypse Now (1979)? Its source materi- al, Joseph Conrad's novella, H e a r t o f D a r k n e s s , a l r e a d y employs the juxtaposition of light/darkness in a symbolic way. How did you translate that visually? C o p p o l a h a d l i k e d T h e Conformist very much and con- tacted me a first time in 1975 ( u p o n t h e c o m p l e t i o n o f Bertolucci's, 1900). A t f i r s t , I w a s h e s i t a n t t o accept working on the movie, since I was questioning myself: Francis Coppola and Vittorio Storaro on the set of the film "TUCKER, the man and his dream" 1988. Photo Courtesy of V. Storaro Continued to page 5 Bernardo Bertolucci and Vittorio Storaro on the set of the film "THE LAST EMPEROR" 1987. Photo Courtesy of V. Storaro

• Cover