Federico Del Zoppo, cinematographer and camera operator, has passed away. Born in 1940, Del Zoppo’s career spanned more than fifty years of Italian cinema, working across both film and television and on productions encompassing a wide range of genres.
His career began in the camera department, working on the sets of some major films in cinema history. Among others, he worked on Luchino Visconti’s Ludwig, Tonino Valerii’s My Name Is Nobody, produced by Sergio Leone, and Tinto Brass’s Caligula. He was also camera operator on Leviathan, directed by George P. Cosmatos and shot by cinematographer Alex Thomson.
As a cinematographer, Del Zoppo shot numerous films and television productions. His long list of credits includes Zanna Bianca e il grande Kid, Ferragosto O.K., Le volpi della notte, Quando ancora non c’erano i Beatles, Thunder III, Killer Crocodile, Fuga da Kayenta, Non lasciamoci più and Stiamo bene insieme. He was also the cinematographer on Giuseppe Ferrara’s I banchieri di Dio – Il caso Calvi and Tinto Brass’s Fallo!, and continued his career in later years with films including Una cella in due, Napoletans, Si può fare l’amore vestiti? and Racconto calabrese.
In 2008, he also turned to directing, co-directing Bastardi with Andres Alce Meldonado, with a cast including Franco Nero, Giancarlo Giannini, Don Johnson, Barbara Bouchet and Enrico Montesano.
Del Zoppo was also featured in Silvia Giulietti’s documentary Gli angeli nascosti di Luchino Visconti, in which some of the craftspeople and collaborators closest to the director recall everyday life on his sets and a period of filmmaking built on expertise, rigour and the passing on of the craft.
With Federico Del Zoppo, cinema loses a professional with a profound understanding of the film set and its transformations, whose career spanned different eras while always remaining deeply connected to the collective and artisanal nature of filmmaking.
Collettivo Chiaroscuro remembers him with great affection and extends its heartfelt condolences to his family and to all those who knew and loved him.
