Mario Masini (28 January 1939 – 13 March 2023) was an Italian cinematographer and experimental director.

Life and career

Born in

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

, Masini grew up in Tuscany and in 1961 he graduated from the

Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia The Centro sperimentale di cinematografia (Experimental Film Centre or Italian National film school) was established in 1935 in Italy and aims to promote the art and technique of cinematography and film. The centre is the oldest film school in ...

in Rome. He started his film career as assistant operator of

Vittorio Storaro Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C., A.I.C. (born 24 June 1940) is an Italian cinematographer widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history, for his work on numerous classic films including ''The Conformist,'' ''Apocalypse Now ...

Daniele D'Anza Daniele D'Anza (20 April 1922 – 12 April 1984) was an Italian director, playwright and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Milan, D'Anza started his career on stage, in which he is best known for the direction of the antimilitarist play '' ...

's ''Pugni, pupe e marinai''. He is best known for his association with

Carmelo Bene Carmelo Pompilio Realino Antonio Bene, known as Carmelo Bene (1 September 1937 – 16 March 2002), was an Italian actor, poet, film director and screenwriter. He was an important exponent of the Italian experimental theatre, avant-garde thea ...

, with whom he collaborated as a cinematographer in all his films, including the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

Special Jury Prize winner '' Our Lady of the Turks''; other notable collaborations include

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani Paolo Taviani (; born 8 November 1931) and Vittorio Taviani (; 20 September 1929 – 15 April 2018), collectively referred to as the Taviani brothers, were Italian film directors and screenwriters who collaborated on film productions. At the C ...

(notably being the cinematographer of

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

winner ''

Padre Padrone ''Padre Padrone'' is a 1977 Italian film directed by Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani. The Tavianis used both professional and non-professional actors from the Sardinian countryside. The title () literally means "Father Master"; it has been tra ...

''),

Bruno Bozzetto Bruno Bozzetto (born 3 March 1938) is an Italian cartoon animator and film director, creator of many short pieces, mainly of a political or satirical nature. He created his first animated short "Tapum! the weapons' story" in 1958 at the age of ...

Giuseppe Ferrara Giuseppe Ferrara (15 July 1932 – 25 June 2016) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.

and

Vittorio De Sisti Vittorio De Sisti (23 November 1940 – 22 April 2006) was a Libyan-born Italian director and screenwriter. Born in Darna, Libya, De Sisti entered the cinema industry in 1962 as a sound engineer. In 1966, after graduating from the Centro S ...

. In the 1980s Masini retired from the industry to work as a teacher in some

Steiner schools Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is Holistic education, holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic ...

, and later moved to

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. He reprised his cinema activities in the early 1990s, working mainly in independent and arthouse international productions. Masini was also a director of experimental and often surrealist films. He died on 13 March 2023, at the age of 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masini, Mario 1939 births 2023 deaths Italian cinematographers People from Savona Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia alumni