Vittorio Storaro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Vittorio Storaro
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Storaro at Cannes in 2001
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| Born | 24 June 1940 Rome, Italy
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| Education | Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia |
| Occupation | Cinematographer |
| Years active | 1960–present |
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Vittorio Storaro (born June 24, 1940) is a famous Italian cinematographer. A cinematographer is the person in charge of how a movie looks. They decide on the lighting, camera angles, and overall visual style. Storaro is known as one of the best and most important cinematographers in movie history.
He has worked on many classic films. These include The Conformist (1970), Apocalypse Now (1979), and The Last Emperor (1987). Over more than 50 years, he has worked with famous directors. Some of these are Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Warren Beatty, and Woody Allen.
Storaro has won three Academy Awards for Best Cinematography. He won for Apocalypse Now, Reds (1981), and The Last Emperor. He is one of only three people alive who have won this award three times.
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Early Life and Learning
Vittorio Storaro was born in Rome, Italy. His father worked as a film projectionist, showing movies in theaters. Storaro started learning about photography when he was just 11 years old.
When he was 18, he went to a special film school. It was called the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. There, he studied cinematography in a formal way.
Storaro's Movie Career
Many people think Storaro is one of the greatest cinematographers ever. He has worked with many important film directors. He worked a lot with Bernardo Bertolucci.
Storaro has a special way of thinking about movies. He is inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's theory of colors. This theory talks about how different colors make people feel. It also explains how colors change what we think about a situation.
He first worked with director Bernardo Bertolucci on The Conformist in 1970. This film was set in Italy during a time called fascism. People often call it a "visual masterpiece" because of how it looks.
Also in 1970, he worked on The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. This was the first movie directed by Dario Argento. It was a very important film in a type of movie called "giallo."
Storaro's first American movie was Apocalypse Now (1979). The director, Francis Ford Coppola, let Storaro have complete control over the movie's look. Apocalypse Now helped Storaro win his first Academy Award.
He then worked with actor and director Warren Beatty for the first time. This was on the movie Reds (1981). For this film, Storaro won his second Academy Award.
Storaro won his third Academy Award for The Last Emperor (1987). This movie was also directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. A few years later, he was nominated for another Oscar for the film Dick Tracy (1990), but he did not win that time.
In 2002, Storaro started writing books. These books explain his ideas about cinematography.
He also worked on a TV show in 2010. It was a co-production between the BBC and an Italian TV company. It was a live performance of Verdi's opera Rigoletto.
In 2016, Storaro worked on Woody Allen's movie Café Society. This was the first time he filmed a movie using a digital camera. He used a special Sony F65 camera.
In 2017, Storaro received the George Eastman Award. This award honors people who have made great contributions to film. That same year, he also talked at the New York Film Festival. He discussed how movies are changing from film to digital.
Some of his other well-known films include 1900, Last Tango in Paris, Bulworth, and The Sheltering Sky.
With his son Fabrizio, he helped create a system called Univisium. This system aimed to make all movies and TV shows use the same screen size (aspect ratio) of 2.00:1. This idea has not become widely used.
Personal Life
Storaro is known for his unique and stylish way of dressing. Director Francis Ford Coppola once joked about him. He said, "Vittorio is the only man I ever knew that could fall off a ladder in a white suit, into the mud, and not get dirty." This shows how careful and neat Storaro is.
Major Film Works
Vittorio Storaro has worked on many films. Here are some of his most famous ones:
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
- The Conformist (1970)
- Last Tango in Paris (1972)
- 1900 (1976)
- Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Reds (1981)
- Ladyhawke (1985)
- The Last Emperor (1987)
- Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
- Dick Tracy (1990)
- The Sheltering Sky (1990)
- Little Buddha (1993)
- Tango (1998)
- Goya en Burdeos (1999)
- Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
- Café Society (2016)
- Wonder Wheel (2017)
- A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
- Rifkin's Festival (2020)
Awards and Honors
Vittorio Storaro has won many important awards for his work.
Academy Awards
He has won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography three times:
- 1980: Apocalypse Now
- 1982: Reds
- 1988: The Last Emperor
He was also nominated for Dick Tracy in 1991.
British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA)
Storaro won a BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography for The Sheltering Sky in 1991. He was also nominated for Apocalypse Now, Reds, and The Last Emperor.
Other Major Awards
- American Society of Cinematographers (ASC): He received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.
- European Film Awards: Won Best Cinematography for Goya en Burdeos in 2000.
- Primetime Emmy Awards: Won for Frank Herbert's Dune (TV miniseries) in 2001.
- Cannes Film Festival: Won the Technical Grand Prize for Tango, no me dejes nunca in 1998.
- International Film Festival of India: Received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.
- British Society of Cinematographers: Won for The Last Emperor in 1988.
- National Society of Film Critics: Won for The Conformist in 1972.
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Won for The Sheltering Sky (1987) and The Last Emperor (1990).
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Won for Reds (1981) and The Last Emperor (1988).
- George Eastman Award: Received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
- Goya Awards: Won for Goya en Burdeos in 2000.
See also
In Spanish: Vittorio Storaro para niños
