Remembering Camillo Bazzoni

Camillo Bazzoni was born on December 29, 1934 in Salsomaggiore Terme, Parma, Italy. As an amateur photographer, he entered the world of cinema as an assistant cameraman in the crew of Vincenzo Seratrice. In the early 1960s he alternates work as camera operator for Seratrice and Aldo Scavarda, director of short films, most notably “The Scream” ( 1966 ) and “Secret Report” (1967), photographed by the then unknown Vittorio Storaro, just out of the center Experimental Film, and the winner of two Silver Ribbons for Best Cinematography for short film.

In 1965 he debuted as a director of photography for a film directed by his brother Luigi, “The Lady of the Lake” (1965). In 1968 he ventured for the first time as a director of a feature film with the Spaghetti western “A Long Ride from Hell” using the alias Alex Burks, photographed by Enzo Barboni, with Storaro as camera operator. After directing some other low-budget films, at the end of the seventies he abandoned directing to devote himself exclusively to the direction of photography, working with directors such as Salvatore Samperi “Ernesto” (1979), “Amore in prima classe” (1980), “La Bonne” (1986), Lina Wertmüller “Scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l'angolo come un brigante da strada” (1983), “Notte d'estate con profilo greco, occhi a mandorla e odore di basilica” (1986) and Mario Monicelli “Bertoldo, Bertoldino and Cacasenno” (1984), “Le due vite di Mattia Pascal” (1985), “Speriamo che sia femmina”(1986).

Former collaborator Vittorio Storaro, meanwhile found success with films directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and honored by the Academy Award for “Apocalypse Now” by Francis Ford Coppola, in 1981 offers him the chance to experience Hollywood, hiring him as a camera operator in second unit of “Reds” directed by Warren Beatty, which earned him his second Academy Award.

At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s Bazzoni photographed the last two films directed by Massimo Troisi, “Le vie del Signore sono finite” (1987) and “Pensavo fosse amore invece era un calesse” (1991).

Camillo is alive and well and living in Salsomaggiore, Emelia-Romgna, Italy.

Today we remember Camillo Bazzoni on his 80^th birthday.