IMAGO - European Federation of Cinematographers

TONINO DELLI COLLI, AIC

20 Nov 1922 , Rome , Italy - 16 Aug 2005 , Rome , Italy

When Colli was sixteen years old he went to Cinecittà studios already recommended by a friend of his father who worked there. He was asked if he wanted to go to sound department or to learn cameraman skills. Tonino choose the second one and started working closely with Ubaldo Arata and Anchise Brizzi. This direct hands-on Cinecittà experience was Colli's school.

His career starts in 1942 as camera operator with director Mario Bonnard with whom he does his first long features. Later, he will work with Bonnard as Director of Photography in Città dolente (1948) and then in Il Voto (1950). In the fifties he starts a collaboration with several directors that will remain for long years: Mario Mattoli ( Totò terzo uomo (1951), Il Padrone del vapore (1951), Accidenti alle tasse!! (1951) and Tradita (1954)); Mario Soldati ( I Tre corsari (1952) and Jolanda la figlia del corsaro nero (1952)); Mario Monicelli and Steno ( Al diavolo la celebrità (1949), Accidenti alle tasse!! (1951), Totò e le donne (1952), Totò a colori (1952), Piccola posta (1955), Donatella (1956), Susanna tutta panna (1957), Femmine tre volte (1959), Capriccio all'italiana (1968), Caro Michele (1976), I Nuovi mostri (1977), Viaggio con Anita (1979), Camera d'albergo (1981) and Facciamo paradiso (1995)).

Not so many times, he has also worked with world famous directors in highly acclaimed films: Roberto Rossellini 's Dov'è la libertà...? (1954); also with Louis Malle in Histoires extraordinaires (1968) (segment "William Wilson") and Lacombe Lucien (1974); Federico Fellini in Ginger e Fred (1986), Intervista (1987) and La Voce della luna (1990); J.Jacques Annaud, Der Name der Rose / The Name of the Rose (1986); and Roman Polanski 's Bitter Moon (1992) and Death and the Maiden (1994). His collaborations with director Sergio Leone are cult movies like Il Buono, il brutto, il catt ivo/ The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), C'era una volta il West / Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984).

Pier Paolo Pasolini, Dante Ferretti

Apart from his partnership with Pasolini he has also worked many times with Dino Risi, in an almost life long collaboration: Poveri ma belli (1957), La Nonna Sabella (1957), Belle ma povere (1957), Poveri milionari (1959), Venezia, la luna e tu (1959), Anima persa (1977), I Nuovi mostri (1977), Primo amore (1978), Caro papà (1979), Sono fotogenico (1980), Temporale Rosy (1980) and Fantasma d'amore (1981).

His work has gained more visibility through his collaboration with director Pier Paolo Pasolini that has choosen Colli to photograph 12 of his 14 movies: Accattone (1961), Mamma Roma (1962), Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963) - "La Ricotta", Le Mura di Sana (short) (1964), Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (1964), Comizi d'amore (1965), Uccellacci e uccellini (1966), Porcile (1969), Il Decameron (1971), I Racconti di Canterbury (1972) and Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975). Pasolini, besides being a film maker was also, and mainly, a poet (even when he filmed) very appreciated. He was seen as a distinctive and innovative filmmaker from post war cinema in the sixties. Therefore, author-film director Pasolini's career being so deeply connected to Colli's one valued his vision a lot. They both enriched each others vision.

Colli's last movie was La Vita è bella / Life Is Beautiful (1997) directed by Roberto Benigni - main actor in Fellini's movie La Voce della luna (1990) that until this day remains highly acclaimed by the public.

FILM AWARDS

Best Cinematography

David di Donatello Awards

1982 - Storie di ordinaria follia (1981)

1987 - Der Name der Rose (1986)

1997 - Marianna Ucrìa (1997)

1998 - La Vita è bella (1997)

Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists

1965 - Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (1964)

1968 - La Cina è vicina (1967)

1982 - Storie di ordinaria follia (1981)

1985 - Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

1987 - Der Name der Rose (1986)

1998 - Marianna Ucrìa (1997)

CARRER AWARDS

1997, Flaiano International Prizes

2002, Brothers Manaki International Film Festival

2005, American Society of Cinematographers

2005, Camerimage