Sergio Salvati (born 16 June 1938) is an Italian cinematographer who was born in

Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin (). Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a lion on a red background, the meaning of which i ...

, a working-class neighborhood of Rome, Italy. His father, Aldofo Salvati, was already a key grip in the early days of

Italian cinema The cinema of Italy (, ) comprises the films made within Italy or by List of Italian film directors, Italian directors. Since its beginning, Italian cinema has influenced film movements worldwide. Italy is one of the birthplaces of art cinema and ...

, and through his father's contacts Sergio began his career developing negatives in a small photographic laboratory in Rome, the SPES directed by Di Ettore Catalucci.

Biography

In 1956 his father was working with Enzo Serafin, who asked Sergio to work with him as

camera assistant A focus puller or first assistant camera (1st AC) is a member of a film crew's camera department whose primary responsibility is to maintain the camera lens's optical focus on whatever subject or action is being filmed. "Pulling focus" refers t ...

on '' Raw Wind in Eden'' starring

Esther Williams Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...

and

Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting ...

. Many other films shot in Italy would follow, both cult classics and commercial cinema. He would be a camera assistant on

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style ...

's ''

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (, literally "''The good, the ugly, the bad''") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Cleef as "the Bad", and Eli Wallach a ...

'' (1966) and later assistant to

Ennio Guarnieri Ennio Guarnieri (12 October 1930 – 1 July 2019) was an Italian cinematographer. He was a frequent contributor to the films of Mauro Bolognini and Franco Zeffirelli, and worked on many occasions with Vittorio De Sica, Marco Ferreri and Lina Wer ...

on three projects from the 60s and 70s:

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

's ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; ; ) is the daughter of Aeëtes, King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished "wiktionary:φαρμακεία, pharmakeía" (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high- ...

'' (1969), ''L'Invasion'' (1970) directed by Yves Allegret and

Mauro Bolognini Mauro Bolognini (28 June 1922 – 14 May 2001) was an Italian film and stage director. Early years Bolognini was born in Pistoia, in the Tuscany region of Italy. After earning a master's degree in architecture at the University of Florence, Bol ...

's ''

Metello ''Metello'' is a 1970 Italian drama film directed by Mauro Bolognini. It was entered into the 1970 Cannes Film Festival. It starred Massimo Ranieri as the title character. Plot During the end of the 19th century, young Metello decides to start ...

'' (1979). During his career, Salvati would be

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

for eleven films directed by

Lucio Fulci Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including Commedia all'italiana, comedies and spagh ...

, the Italian master of gore, including the famous '' Wax Mask'' taken over by Dario Argento when Fulci died during preparation of the film. He would also be cinematographer on several films produced by

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

, including '' Puppetmaster'' (1989). After having filmed scenes of

Christian De Sica Christian De Sica (; born 5 January 1951) is an Italian actor, comedian, television presenter, and filmmaker. Life De Sica was born in Rome, the second son of Italian director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader. His first ...

's remake of his father's film, ''Il Conte Max'' (1991), in

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

, Sergio Salvati established the groundwork for a collaboration with the country of Morocco that continues until today. He worked alongside his friend Ennio Guarnieri on two films from the TNT Bible series shot in Ouarzazate, the ''Hollywood of Morocco'': ''

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

'' (1994) and '' The Seventh Scroll'' (1999). At the age of 73, he was director of photography on an independent Moroccan film, ''The Return of the Son'', directed by Ahmed Boulane. He has taught and continues to teach cinematography in film schools in both

Ouarzazate Ouarzazate (; , ), nicknamed ''the door of the desert'', is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the region of Drâa-Tafilalet, south-central Morocco. Ouarzazate is a primary tourist destination in Morocco during the holidays, as well as ...

and

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

. He has taught at the famous Centro Sperimentale Di Cinematografia in Rome and freely shares his experience with young filmmakers, as well as perpetuating the rich tradition of "Italian cinema". Salvati was president of the AIC, Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia, from 2007 through 2008 and remains on the board of directors.

Partial filmography

:Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * *

External links

* 1938 births Italian cinematographers Living people Film people from Rome Academic staff of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia {{cinematographer-stub