The Best Cinematographer (Documentary) award at the IFFA – Indie Film Festival 2025 in New York goes to Filippo Chiesa CCS for the film Il sale nell’anima by Luca Noris.

Interview with Filippo Chiesa CCS
by Silvia Tarquini

Filippo, congratulations on this important award. Can you tell us how you got involved in the project? How did it all begin?

An award for cinematography that I share with all my fellow travellers – without them, this result would not have been possible. A huge thank you to Luca Noris, Francesco Ronchi, Sandro Russello, Andrea Monachello, Alessandro Bernardi, and to all the people we were lucky enough to meet during filming.
As for how I came to be involved, I believe Luca Noris reached out to me because, over the years, I’ve built experience working on small, intimate productions – even though I’ve also worked with large-scale productions, especially in advertising. As we all know, there’s never quite enough money in documentary filmmaking to do everything one might hope for, so I’ve spent my professional life experimenting with how to achieve the highest image quality through non-standard solutions. I was probably one of the first in Italy to start using what we now call mirrorless cameras – though at the time, they were basically digital reflex cameras. It all started with the Canon 5D, and even earlier with the PS Technic. I’ve always tried to achieve high-quality, cinematic-looking images using accessible equipment. For this film, as with many others, I used my own lighting gear – often non-standard and not available through rental houses.
Over the years, I’ve built up a fairly solid equipment kit so that I can go out and shoot, even alone or with just one assistant, and still bring back the level of quality I aim for. Because for me – as for anyone in our profession – quality always comes first. That’s probably why I was asked to join this project.

So, what did Luca Noris ask of you for this film?

A large part of my job is to visually create what the director asks of me. In this case, given the context – we were in Porticello, a fishing village near Bagheria – we needed to be invisible. The fishermen aren’t used to having cameras pointed at them. We had to create a very intimate atmosphere, and that’s exactly what we did. Luca is excellent at building a sense of team – not just with us. He had rented an apartment where we all stayed and cooked together. It was a deeply personal experience in that sense too, which rarely happens in standard productions. Usually, once work is done, everyone goes their separate ways. But here, beyond being a professional crew, we truly became a group of friends. We already knew each other, there was great chemistry between us – and I think that really comes through in the images. We extended that sense of connection to the fishermen and the people of Porticello as well. What struck me in particular was filming the procession of the beautiful cult of the Madonna del Lume. It was the first time the procession had taken place again after a three-year hiatus due to Covid.

What experiences – even more specifically on a technical level – did you draw on and put to use in this film?

We worked with Sony mirrorless cameras, as I felt they best suited our needs. In the past, I was quite critical of autofocus, but that’s no longer the case. In certain situations, it really makes a difference – especially in small-scale productions like this, where the crew is minimal. As I mentioned, it was just me (also operating one of the cameras), the director, Francesco Ronchi as the second operator, and Sandro Russello, who handled the drone.
In post-production, Luca himself took care of the editing, and the colour grading was done by my dear friend Alessandro Bernardi, with whom I often run workshops. It was an extremely lean production. I should also highlight that it was truly a collective effort – particularly for the scenes at sea. I suffer quite badly from seasickness, so in some cases, Francesco Ronchi stepped in for me. There were other times too when I couldn’t be on set due to prior commitments. Since some of the shoots in Porticello couldn’t be scheduled far in advance, I had to miss a few.
In short, it was a genuine team effort, made possible by the great rapport we had on set. The decision to use autofocus lenses came directly from this context. When used with a cinematic eye, autofocus today allows for a great deal. You can calibrate focus transitions smoothly without compromising image quality. The autofocus lenses themselves – especially Sony’s G Master line, which we used in this case – when combined with the right filters, can achieve a truly cinematic texture, if I may use that word.

You mentioned that not everyone is open to these technologies… Could you elaborate on that?

Some time ago, I played a little prank: I made up a set of so-called “Crisopoli” cinema lenses that I claimed I had exclusive access to for testing. In reality, they were just Sony G Master autofocus lenses fitted with the same filters typically used with cinema lenses. Almost all of my cinematographer friends fell for it – which goes to show that photographic lenses, when used with proper care and understanding, can produce outstanding results. And more importantly, they can be incredibly helpful in situations where you don’t have a focus puller or an assistant to help with focus.
I must say that, in the case of Il sale nell’anima, they were a godsend. Our main need was to support natural light – because in that kind of setting, most of the work is done with available light. It was all about finding the right lighting conditions and figuring out how to reinforce the natural light with artificial sources, without overpowering or distorting it – which I think is a common concern for all cinematographers.
I believe that in Il sale nell’anima, this approach really paid off. Luca Noris’s direction, in my view, is both attentive and poetic, and it blends perfectly with the atmosphere of the place. His sensitivity was key to capturing the spirit of this fishing village. The film tells the story of one of the last traditional fishing communities not yet absorbed by the major commercial networks – where they still fish using the lampara, the old torchlight method. We created a visual document, with chapters that include a tribute to Guttuso.

Absolutely – your award is surely a sign of hope for those who are making films on a low budget…

Absolutely. These days, when it comes to cameras, you pretty much always land on your feet. The gap between affordable gear and so-called “flagship” models is getting narrower and narrower. Today, anyone can produce high-quality work, and I think that’s a great thing – especially for students, who now have much easier access to equipment. There’s room for creativity, for the drive to make things, and for low-budget productions.