In occasione delle celebrazioni del centesimo anniversario della fondazione dell’American Society of Cinematographers, il sindacato dei direttori della fotografia americani ha pubblicato la lista delle 100 pietre miliari dell’arte della direzione della fotografia al cinema nel ventesimo secolo. È la prima volta che l’associazione di professionisti pubblica una simile lista, che culmina in una top-ten ordinata per numero di voti:

  1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), shot by Freddie Young, BSC (Dir. David Lean)
  2. Blade Runner (1982), shot by Jordan Cronenweth, ASC (Dir. Ridley Scott)
  3. Apocalypse Now (1979), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
  4. Citizen Kane (1941), shot by Gregg Toland, ASC (Dir. Orson Wells)
  5. The Godfather (1972), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
  6. Raging Bull (1980), shot by Michael Chapman, ASC (Dir. Martin Scorsese)
  7. The Conformist (1970), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
  8. Days of Heaven (1978), shot by Néstor Almendros, ASC (Dir. Terrence Malick)
  9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), shot by Geoffrey Unsworth, BSC with additional photography by John Alcott, BSC (Dir. Stanley Kubrick)
  10. The French Connection (1971), shot by Owen Roizman, ASC (Dir. William Friedkin)

Da notare che l’italiano Vittorio Storaro è l’unico a comparire ben due volte nella top-ten, al terzo posto per Apocalypse Now e al settimo posto per Il Conformista.

Il resto della lista, invece, è elencato in ordine cronologico di uscita dei film, compaiono gli italiani Carlo Montuori (Ladri di Biciclette), Gianni di Venanzo (8 e 1/2), Marcello Gatti (La Battaglia di Algeri), Tonino Delli Colli (C’Era una Volta il West), di nuovo Storaro (Ultimo Tango a Parigi, Reds, L’Ultimo Imperatore), Giuseppe Rotunno (All That Jazz), Dante Spinotti (L.A. Confidential).

La lista è stata votata dai membri dell’ASC e organizzata da Steven Fierberg (The Affair, Entourage), che ha commentato: “Credo che come individui e come membri dell’ASC dobbiamo condividere con il pubblico ciò che ci ha influenzati e ispirati nel nostro lavoro e nella nostra arte – film che consideriamo pietre miliari nella nostra professione”. Lo scopo di questa lista, quindi, è anche educativo: “La nostra speranza è che quest’elenco aiuti il pubblico a capire meglio l’importanza della fotografia”.

Si è scelto di limitare la lista al ventesimo secolo per assicurarsi che tali film abbiano avuto una effettiva influenza duratura sul cinema.

Metropolis (1927), shot by Karl Freund, ASC; Günther Rittau

Napoleon (1927), shot by Leonce-Henri Burel, Jules Kruger, Joseph-Louis Mundwiller,

Sunrise (1927), shot by Charles Rosher Sr., ASC; Karl Struss, ASC

Gone with the Wind (1939), shot by Ernest Haller, ASC

The Wizard of Oz (1939), shot by Harold Rosson, ASC

The Grapes of Wrath (1940), shot by Gregg Toland, ASC

How Green Was My Valley (1941), shot by Arthur C. Miller, ASC

Casablanca (1942), shot by Arthur Edeson, ASC

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), shot by Stanley Cortez, ASC

Black Narcissus (1947), shot by Jack Cardiff, BSC

The Bicycle Thief (1948), shot by Carlo Montuori,

The Red Shoes (1948), shot by Jack Cardiff, BSC

The Third Man (1949), shot by Robert Krasker, BSC

Rashomon (1950) shot by Kazuo Miyagawa

Sunset Boulevard (1950), shot by John Seitz, ASC

On the Waterfront (1954), shot by Boris Kaufman, ASC

Seven Samurai (1954), shot by Asakazu Nakai

The Night of the Hunter (1955), shot by Stanley Cortez, ASC

The Searchers (1956), shot by Winton C. Hoch, ASC

Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), shot by Jack HIlyard, BSC

Touch of Evil (1958), shot by Russell Metty, ASC

Vertigo (1958), shot by Robert Burks, ASC

North by Northwest (1959), shot by Robert Burks, ASC

Breathless (1960), shot by Raoul Coutard

Last Year at Marienbad (1961), shot by Sacha Vierny

8 ½ (1963), shot by Gianni Di Venanzo

Hud (1963), shot by James Wong Howe, ASC

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), shot by Gilbert Taylor, BSC

I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba; 1964), shot by Sergei Urusevsky

Doctor Zhivago (1965), shot by Freddie Young, BSC

The Battle of Algiers (1966), shot by Marcello Gatti

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), shot by Haskell Wexler, ASC

Cool Hand Luke (1967), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC

The Graduate (1967), shot by Robert Surtees, ASC

In Cold Blood (1967), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), shot by Tonino Delli Colli, AIC

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC

The Wild Bunch (1969), shot by Lucien Ballard, ASC

A Clockwork Orange (1971), shot by John Alcott, BSC

Klute (1971), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC

The Last Picture Show (1971), shot by Robert Surtees, ASC

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC

Cabaret (1972), shot by Geoffery Unsworth, BSC

Last Tango in Paris (1972), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC

The Exorcist (1973), shot by Owen Roizman, ASC

Chinatown (1974), shot by John Alonzo, ASC

The Godfather: Part II (1974), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC

Barry Lyndon (1975), shot by John Alcott, BSC

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), shot by Haskell Wexler, ASC

All the President’s Men (1976), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC

Taxi Driver (1976), shot by Michael Chapman, ASC

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC

The Duellists (1977), shot by Frank Tidy, BSC

The Deer Hunter (1978), shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC

Alien (1979), shot by Derek Vanlint, CSC

All that Jazz (1979), shot by Giuseppe Rotunno, ASC, AIC

Being There (1979), shot by Caleb Deschanel, ASC

The Black Stallion (1979), shot by Caleb Deschanel, ASC

Manhattan (1979), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC

The Shining (1980), shot by John Alcott, BSC

Chariots of Fire (1981), shot by David Watkin, BSC

Das Boot (1981), shot by Jost Vacano, ASC

Reds (1981), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC

Fanny and Alexander (1982), shot by Sven Nykvist, ASC

The Right Stuff (1983), shot by Caleb Deschanel, ASC

Amadeus (1984), shot by Miroslav Ondricek, ASC, ACK

The Natural (1984), shot by Caleb Deschanel, ASC

Paris, Texas (1984), shot by Robby Müller, NSC, BVK

Brazil (1985), shot by Roger Pratt, BSC

The Mission (1986), shot by Chris Menges, ASC, BSC

Empire of the Sun (1987), shot by Allen Daviau, ASC

The Last Emperor (1987), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC

Wings of Desire (1987), shot by Henri Alekan

Mississippi Burning (1988), shot by Peter Biziou, BSC

JFK (1991), shot by Robert Richardson, ASC

Raise the Red Lantern (1991), shot by Lun Yang

Unforgiven (1992), shot by Jack Green, ASC

Baraka (1992), shot by Ron Fricke

Schindler’s List (1993), shot by Janusz Kaminski

Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC

Trois Coulieurs: Bleu (Three Colours: Blue; 1993), shot by Slawomir Idziak, PSC

The Shawshank Redemption (1994), shot by Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC

Seven (1995), shot by Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC

The English Patient (1996), shot by John Seale, ASC, BSC

L. A. Confidential (1997), shot by Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC

Saving Private Ryan (1998), shot by Janusz Kaminski

The Thin Red Line (1998), shot by John Toll, ASC

American Beauty (1999), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC

The Matrix (1999), shot by Bill Pope, ASC

In the Mood for Love (2000), shot by Christopher Doyle, HKSC

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