Stephen Campanelli is a Canadian movie cameraman and film director. He has been a long-term member of
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...
's film production crew.
Early life
Campanelli's mother Carmela emigrated from Italy to Canada. He traces his film interests to his mother sneaking into movies during WWII. Growing up in Montreal, he lived in Notre-Dame-de-Grace (NDG), and can speak
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, and
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
. Campanelli's childhood hero was Clint Eastwood. He named his dog "Clint".
Career
Campanelli first started camera work while at
Marianopolis College
Marianopolis College is a private English-language college in the Canadian province of Quebec. Located in Westmount, Quebec, it is an anglophone college with a student body over 2,000. The General and Vocational Education College, known as a CE ...
, in Montreal, Quebec. He graduated from Marianopolis in 1978. Campanelli graduated from film studies from
Concordia University
Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...
, in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1983. During his time there, he won first place in a student film competition that took place in Concordia's Hall Amphitheatre, for ''From a Whisper to a Scream''. ''From a Whisper to a Scream'' later screened at the 1984
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Meatballs III'', which was filmed in the Montreal suburb of
Hudson, Quebec
Hudson is an Greater Montreal, off-island suburb of Montreal, with a population of 5,4112021 Census. It is located on the south-west bank of the lower Ottawa River, in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality. Situated about west of down ...
.
He worked with Jack Green, a frequent collaborator of Clint Eastwood's, who recommended him to Eastwood. Eastwood handled all the immigration papers to get Campanelli to be able to legally work in the United States. Campanelli went on to be a cameraman on
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...
's production film crew, starting as camera operator on ''The Bridges of Madison County''. In 2011, he was nominated for "Camera Operator of the Year" of the ''Society of Camera Operators'', for his work on ''Hereafter''. He worked on the Eastwood crew for 20 years, ending in the middle of shooting of ''American Sniper'', where he had to depart in mid-filming to pursue his directorial debut on 2015's ''Momentum''.
Campanelli directed his first film, ''
Momentum
In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. ...
'', in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. The film premiered at the 2015
Fantasia International Film Festival
Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...
, on 22 July 2015, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, screening in the same Hall Amphitheatre as he had screened his student film in, 30 years earlier.
His film '' Indian Horse'', an adaptation of the novel by
Richard Wagamese
Richard Wagamese (October 14, 1955 – March 10, 2017) was an Ojibwe Canadian author and journalist from the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in Northwestern Ontario. He was best known for his novel '' Indian Horse'' (2012), which won the Burt Aw ...
, debuted at the
2017 Toronto International Film Festival
The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2017. There were fourteen programs, with the Vanguard and City to City programs both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down by ...
The Georgia Straight
''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools ...
'', August 23, 2017.
In 2019 his third film, the thriller-noir '' Grand Isle'', was presented at the Lone Star Film Festival and received positive reviews from ''Variety'', ''
Fort Worth Weekly
''Fort Worth Weekly'' is an alternative weekly newspaper that serves the Greater Fort Worth area (all of Tarrant County and some of Denton County).
The newspaper has an approximate circulation of 35,000. It is published every Wednesday and featu ...
'', and other periodicals.
His fourth film, '' Drinkwater'', premiered at the
Calgary International Film Festival
The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October.
CIFF is the largest international film festival in Alberta and the sixth largest in Canada.
In 2020, thei ...
in 2021.
In 2022, Sea to Sky Entertainment and Grinding Halt Films announced that Campanelli is slated to direct a film adaptation of Wagamese's 2009 novel ''Ragged Company''.
Accolades
Campanelli's film ''Indian Horse'' won the top award at the 2017
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October.
The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...
. Grand Isle won the Spotlight Award at Lone Star Film Festival.
He was nominated for the
Directors Guild of Canada
The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC; ) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assist ...
's
DGC Discovery Award DGC can refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Darlton Gliding Club, Nottinghamshire, England
* Daybreak Game Company, an American video game developer
* Delhi Golf Club, Delhi, India
* Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie, a German organiz ...
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...