FRANCESCO 'CHECCO' VARESE

#1: From interview [Twin Cities Film Fest, 2015]

#2: With wife/dir Patricia Riggen - photo by Dimitrios Kambouris

FRANCESCO 'CHECCO' VARESE AMC/ASC

Born: ?, Lima, Peru. His parents were Italian.

Education: Milan [Architecture], Italy.

Career: 'My father was a liberal lawyer in Italy, who got in trouble with the fascist government in 1936. He became a jeweler in Peru. In fact, my first job was helping him fix watches and jewelry that needed to be repaired. I remember my father taking me to see 'Tora! Tora! Tora!', but I wasn't a big movie fan. I mainly did a lot of painting when I was a boy. After I moved to Italy when I was around 20 years old, I became a huge movie fan. It started with one of my teachers suggesting that I see a movie and watch how they used colors as a form of expression. A friend asked if I knew anything about photography. I said yes. I had taken some black-and-white still pictures a couple years ago. She took me into the next room, and introduced me as the new assistant cameraman. Pretty soon, I was traveling around the world shooting news and documentaries. I worked on 10 National Geographic documentaries, and covered news stories for NBC, CNN and CBS in the U.S., BBC in England, RAI in Italy, and TVE in Spain, from 1985 until 1994. The first [music video I shot] was when a producer friend needed someone to go to Prague to shoot 'b' roll for an Ozzy Osbourne music video. I think he sent me, because I spoke a little German. Everyone liked what I did, so that led to chances to shoot other music videos. I've shot more than 200 music videos with a lot of talented directors and performers. I worked on a documentary with a rented Steadicam, and thought that it was a fantastic tool. A friend and I bought a Steadicam together. I was living in Argentina part time. There was a small commercial industry there, and no other Steadicam operators. Every time a commercial was produced in Argentina or Chile, where they needed a Steadicam operator, I got the job. After I did my shots, I would offer to operate the second camera or to help with the lighting or translating for people who didn't speak the language. That led to opportunities for me to shoot some 300 to 400 commercials around the world. I also operated a Steadicam on about a half a dozen movies.' [From interview with Bob Fisher on the KODAK OnFilm website.]

Ph hundreds of music videos and commercials.

Member of the ASC since 2010. Married to film dir Patricia Riggen.

Awards: 'Silver Condor' Award [2006] for 'El aura'; MTV Video Music Award nom [2006] for 'Black Sweat' [a: Prince; d: Sanaa Hamri].

Website: Checco Varese

FILMS
1993	Alive: 20 Years Later [Jill Fullerton-Smith] b&w-c/V; doc/51m; ?; ph South America: Peter Greenhalgh; ph Canada: Ivan Strasburg
1995	Solo [Norberto Barba] s35/c; co-aph (+ add c.op/Steadicam op); ph: Christopher Walling
1996	Dave Matthews Band: The Videos 1994-2001 ['Crash Into Me' (1996) & 'Don't Drink the Water' (1998) dir by Dean Karr] c/V; comp of music videos/48m; other ph: Andrzej Bartkowiak, Josep Civit & Ernest Holzman; filmed 1995-2001
1996	Perfect Target [Sheldon Lettich] c; 2uc (+ Steadicam op); ph: Chuy Chávez
1997	La maceta/The Flowerpot [Javier Patrón] c; short/18m; prod Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica
1998	The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Scared Silly [John Holmquist] c/V; anim + live action/40m; live action ph; live action 2uc: Eric Adkins; part 1 of 6-part series
1998	The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: The Legend of Grimace Island [Jim Duffy] c/V; anim + live action/40m; live action ph; live action 2uc: Eric Adkins; part 2 of 6-part series
1999	Por la libre/Dust to Dust/Como pez en el agua [Juan Carlos de Llaca] c
2000	Night at the Golden Eagle [Adam Rifkin] s35/c
2001	La milpa/The Cornfield [Patricia Riggen] c; short/27m
2002	Moctezuma's Revenge [Jorge Riggen] dv-to-35mm/c
2003	Archipiélago [Elías León Siminiani] c; short/17m
2003	With It [Hunter Carson] c; short/11m
2004	Family Portrait [Patricia Riggen] c; doc/28m
2004	Charros [Jorge Riggen] c; short/14m
2004	El aura/The Aura [Fabián Bielinsky] s35/c
2006	La misma luna/Under the Same Moon [Patricia Riggen] c
2007	Prom Night [Nelson McCormick] s35/c; remake of film (1979, Paul Lynch; ph: Robert New)
2008	The New Daughter [Luis Berdejo] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; addph (5 days): Antonio Calvache; C. Varese broke his right hand halfway through filming and was replaced for 5 days by A. Calvache
2008	A Mother's Promise: Barack Obama Bio Film [Davis Guggenheim] b&w-c; doc/10m; cph: Lee Daniel & Erich Roland
2009	Revolución/Revolution [seg (HD-to-35mm) 'Lindo y querido/Beautiful & Beloved' dir by Patricia Riggen] b&w-c; 10 seg; other ph: Sean Coles, Alejandro Cantú, Lula Carvalho, Patrick Murguia, a.o.

"5 Days of War" - photo by Yuda Tatarko

2009	5 Days of War/Georgia [Renny Harlin] RED+HD (Silicon Imaging + Redlake [high speed])-to-35mm scope/c
2011	Girl in Progress/See If I Care/Ansiedad/Anxiety [Patricia Riggen] RED-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c
2011	Pacific Rim [Guillermo del Toro] RED Epic-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; ph 'b' cam unit; ph: Guillermo Navarro; filmed 2011-12
2013	Ice Scream [Roberto De Feo & Vito Palumbo] HD/c; cph: Colby Oliver; aph: Joshua Turner; remake of Italian short film (2008/22m)
2013	The 33 [Patricia Riggen] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT Plus + Silicon Imaging SI-2K 'Nano')-to-D-Cinema (scope)/c; 2uc: Paulo Andrés Pérez; filmed 2013-14
2015	Miracles from Heaven [Patricia Riggen] HD-to-digital/c; 2uc: Joshua Turner; addph: Hilda Mercado
2016	Replicas [Jeffrey Nachmanoff (replaced Tanya Wexler)] c

TELEVISION
1991	Columbus and the Age of Discovery [various] 7-part doc series ('Columbus's World', 'An Idea Takes Shape', 'The Crossing', 'Worlds Found and Lost', 'The Sword and the Cross', 'The Columbian Exchange' & 'In Search of Columbus')
1997	Lost in the Bermuda Triangle/Reunion: Journey Beyond the Bermuda Triangle [Norberto Barba] tvm; 2uc: Robert Wertheimer
1999	Primal Force [Nelson McCormick] tvm; 2uc: Guillermo Rosas
2000	Fidel [David Attwood] 2-part tvm; 2uc: Guillermo Rosas
2002	A Separate Peace [Peter Yates] tvm/s35-to-35mm
2003	Comfort and Joy [Maggie Greenwald] tvm
2003	Reno 911! [pilot dir by Michael Patrick Jann] 88-part series, 2003-09; other ph: Joe Kessler; for Comedy Central
2004	[Oprah Winfrey Presents:] Their Eyes Were Watching God [Darnell Martin] tvm
2004	Global Frequency [Nelson McCormick] unaired pilot/45m; for The WB
2005	Emily's Reasons Why Not [pilot dir by Michael Patrick Jann] 7-part (6 unaired) series/HD, 2006; other ph: Alan Caso
2005	The Unit [ep #1 'First Responders' dir by Davis Guggenheim] 69-part series, 2006-09; 1st season, 2006; other ph: Krishna Rao
2006	Hustle [ep #19 'As One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, One Flew In' dir by Alrick Riley (AR) #24 'Big Daddy Calling' dir by AR] 48-part series, 2004-12; 4th season/HD (Sony HDW-750), 2007
2007	Life [pilot 'Merit Badge' dir by David Semel] 32-part series, 2007-09; 1st season, 2007; other ph: Jerry Sidell, Michael Mayers, a.o.
2007	True Blood [pilot 'Strange Love' dir by Alan Ball & ep #3 'Mine' dir by John Dahl] 80-part series, 2008-14; 1st season, 2008 (12 ep); other ph: Matthew Jensen & Amy Vincent
2008	Last of the Ninth [Carl Franklin] pilot; passed on by HBO-tv
2009	Melrose Place [pilot (35mm) dir by Davis Guggenheim] 18-part series/HD (ARRI D-21), 2009-10; other ph: Christopher Faloona
2010	The Defenders [pilot dir by Davis Guggenheim] 18-part series/HD (Sony F35 & PMW-EX3 + Canon EOS 7D), 2010-11; other ph: Alan Caso (17 ep)
2010	The Nine Lives of Chloe King/Nine Lives [pilot dir by Wendey Stanzler] 10-part series/HD, 2011; other ph (+ uncred add scenes pilot): Michael Goi; for ABC Family
2010	Lemonade Mouth [Patricia Riggen] tvm/s35-to-HD; for Disney Channel
2011	Lovestruck: The Musical [Sanaa Hamri] tvm/HD; for ABC Family
2012	The Fosters [pilot dir by Timothy Busfield] series, 2013-present; 1st season, 2013-14 (21 ep); for ABC Family
2013	Occult [Rob Bowman] pilot; for A&E Networks
2013	Reign [6 ep dir by various] series/HD, 2013-present; 1st season, 2013-14 (22 ep)
2013	The Strain [ep #1 'Night Zero' (filmed September) dir by Guillermo del Toro, #11 'The Third Rail' dir by Deran Sarafian & #13 'The Master' dir by Phil Abraham] series/RED Epic, 2014-present; 1st season, 2014 (13 ep); other ph: Gabriel Beristáin (#2-3 & #5-6), Miroslaw Baszak (#4, 7, 9-10 & #12) & Colin Hoult (#8); aph: Brian Heller
2014	Point of Honor [Randall Wallace] pilot/RED Epic X; 2uc: Gregg Easterbrook; aph: Travis McMunn; for Amazon Studios
2014	The Returned [ep #1 'Camille' dir by Keith Gordon] 10-part series, 2015; other ph: John S. Bartley
2015	The Strain [ep #14 'BK, NY' dir by Gregory Hoblit & (prologue) Guillermo del Toro] 2nd season, 2015; ph prologue; ph: Miroslaw Baszak; see 2013
2015	The Adversaries [Stephen Cragg] pilot/HD; for ABC-tv
2015	Colony [pilot dir by Juan José Campanella] series/HD (ARRI ALEXA), 2016-present; other ph: Jeff Jur; aph: Douglas S. Holgate
2016	No Tomorrow [Brad Silberling] pilot/HD; addph: Joshua Turner; for The CW Network

MISCELLANEOUS
1992	De eso no se habla/I Don't Want to Talk About It/We Don't Want to Talk About It [María Luisa Bemberg] Steadicam op; ph: Félix Monti
1993	The Cisco Kid [Luis Valdez; tvm] c.op 'b' cam (+ gaffer); ph: Guillermo Navarro
1993	Lost Kingdoms of the Maya [Christine Weber] doc/56m; Steadicam (+ assoc prod) (cred as Francesco Varese); ph: Robert Elfstrom, Don Lenzer, Peter Schnall & Mackenzie Waggaman; co-addph (+ ph re-creations): Guillermo Navarro; a 'National Geographic Special'
1994	Rough Magic [Clare Peploe] Steadicam op (Mexico); ph: John J. Campbell
1995	Solo [Norberto Barba] add c.op/Steadicam op (+ co-aph); ph: Christopher Walling
1995	The Arrival/Shockwave [David Twohy] 2u Steadicam op (Mexico); ph: Hiro Narita
1997	One Man's Hero [Lance Hool] co-Steadicam op; ph: João Fernandes