# Maurizio Calvesi (cinematographer, born 1954)
**Maurizio Calvesi** (born 1954, Rome) is an Italian cinematographer and assistant director whose credits span more than four decades of Italian cinema, including *Loose Cannons* (2010), *The Confessions* (2016) and *Don't Be Bad* (2015).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0130846/bio/) He is a member of the AIC (Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia Cinematografica), the Italian society of cinematographers.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0130846/bio/) He shares his name with a much older and unrelated-to-his-career figure, the art historian [Maurizio Calvesi](https://www.edgepedia.org/maurizio-calvesi-art-historian-1927-2020) (1927–2020), who is in fact his omonimo and distant relative.[2](https://www.mauriziocalvesi.com/formazione/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1954, Rome, Italy[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0130846/bio/) |
| Career start | Began in 1977 as a camera operator; director of photography from 1990[3](https://www.accattaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/Accattaroma-Pressbook.pdf) |
| Output | Credited on about 101 films by one pressbook count; IMDb lists 114 cinematography credits[3](https://www.accattaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/Accattaroma-Pressbook.pdf) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0130846/) |
| Major awards | Nastro d'Argento for best cinematography, 2016, for *Non essere cattivo*[5](https://www.mymovies.it/persone/maurizio-calvesi/67369/) |
| David di Donatello nominations | 2003 (*Prendimi l'anima*), 2008 (*I Viceré*), 2010 (*Mine vaganti*), 2016 (*Non essere cattivo*), 2017 (*Le confessioni*)[3](https://www.accattaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/Accattaroma-Pressbook.pdf) |
| Recent honors | Golden Globe and Golden Exposure Award (2025) for *L'abbaglio*[6](https://imago.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NEWSLETTER-21.pdf) |
| Guild | AIC, Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia Cinematografica[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0130846/bio/) |
## Career
Calvesi entered the film industry in 1977 as a camera operator and moved into directing photography from 1990.[3](https://www.accattaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/Accattaroma-Pressbook.pdf) His early credits as cinematographer include *Volevo i pantaloni* (Maurizio Ponzi, 1990) and *La discesa di Aclà a Floristella* (Aurelio Grimaldi, 1992), the latter one of the works his pressbook lists among his most representative.[3](https://www.accattaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/Accattaroma-Pressbook.pdf)
Through the 1990s and 2000s he built a filmography across Italian genre and auteur cinema: *OcchioPinocchio* (Francesco Nuti), *L'ultimo capodanno* (Marco Risi), *L'odore della notte* (Claudio Caligari), *Prendimi l'anima* and *I Viceré* (Roberto Faenza), *Sotto falso nome* (Roberto Andò), and *Valzer* (Salvatore Maira).[3](https://www.accattaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/Accattaroma-Pressbook.pdf) • [7](https://www.fosforopress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/DEFPB-NON-ESSERE-CATTIVO.pdf) Later widely seen films include *Mine vaganti* (*Loose Cannons*, Ferzan Özpetek, 2010), *Magnifica presenza* (Özpetek, 2012), *Viva la libertà* (Andò, 2013), *Non essere cattivo* (*Don't Be Bad*, Caligari, 2015) and *Le confessioni* (*The Confessions*, Andò, 2016).[8](https://filmitalia.org/it/filmography/4/8596/)
**Recurring collaborations.** His filmography shows long partnerships with a small group of directors: Roberto Faenza (*Il caso dell'infedele Klara*, *I giorni dell'abbandono*, *Un giorno questo dolore ti sarà utile*, *La verità sta in cielo*, among others), Roberto Andò (*Sotto falso nome*, *Viaggio segreto*, *Viva la libertà*, *Le confessioni*, *Una storia senza nome*, *La stranezza*, *L'abbaglio*), and Ferzan Özpetek (*Mine vaganti*, *Magnifica presenza*).[8](https://filmitalia.org/it/filmography/4/8596/) In an interview with the AIC journal, Andò's working method was described as one in which the director's written descriptions already suggest a precise context, with photographic decisions refined on set through joint discussion.[9](https://www.aiccine.com/interview/la-stranezza-conversazione-con-maurizio-calvesi-aic-imago/)
## Awards and recognition
Calvesi has been nominated five times for the David di [Donatello](https://www.edgepedia.org/donatello), Italy's principal film award: in 2003 for *Prendimi l'anima* and in 2008 for *I Viceré*, both directed by Roberto Faenza; in 2010 for *Mine vaganti* by Ferzan Özpetek; in 2016 for *Non essere cattivo* by Claudio Caligari; and in 2017 for *Le confessioni* by Roberto Andò.[3](https://www.accattaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/Accattaroma-Pressbook.pdf) He won the Nastro d'Argento (Silver Ribbon) for best cinematography in 2016 for *Non essere cattivo*.[5](https://www.mymovies.it/persone/maurizio-calvesi/67369/)
For *L'abbaglio* (2025), directed by Roberto Andò, he won a Golden Globe and was announced as the recipient of the Golden Exposure Award, an honor dedicated to the memory of the cinematographer Gianni Di Venanzo that recognizes excellence in Italian cinematography; the ceremony was scheduled for October 11 in Teramo, Di Venanzo's hometown.[6](https://imago.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NEWSLETTER-21.pdf)
## Festival presence
Films photographed by Calvesi have appeared repeatedly at the Venice International Film Festival, according to the Biennale's historical archive: *La discesi di Aclà a Floristella* at the 49th Mostra (1992), *Quattro bravi ragazzi* (1993), *L'ultima sigaretta* (1997), *L'odore della notte* in the Critics' Week (1998), *Rosa Funzeca* (2002), *I giorni dell'abbandono* in competition (2005), *Valzer* (2007), *Non essere cattivo* out of competition (2015), *Una storia senza nome* (2018), *Il bambino nascosto* (2021), and *Come ti muovi, sbagli* as the closing film of the Giornate degli Autori in 2025.[10](https://asac.labiennale.org/persone/309939)
## Style and influences
In a published conversation with the AIC, Calvesi named the films that first drew him to cinematography: Bertolucci's *Il Conformista*, photographed by Vittorio Storaro, and the work of the American cinematographer Conrad L. Hall, from *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid* through *Fat City* and *Road to Perdition*. He also credited the Italian cinematographers Tonino Delli Colli, Giuseppe Rotunno and Blasco Giurato's generation, and above all his teacher Tonino Nardi, a friend who died young and to whom he said he owed a great deal.[9](https://www.aiccine.com/interview/la-stranezza-conversazione-con-maurizio-calvesi-aic-imago/) For *La stranezza* (2022), he said some of the film's landscapes recalled the countryside and seascapes of the painter Giuseppe De Nittis, and that the coffin scene was decisive in the choice between color and black and white.[9](https://www.aiccine.com/interview/la-stranezza-conversazione-con-maurizio-calvesi-aic-imago/)
## The namesake
The cinematographer should not be confused with the art historian and critic Maurizio Calvesi (Rome 1927–2020), professor emeritus at the Università di Roma La Sapienza, 2008 Balzan Prize laureate, and director of the visual arts sector of the 1984 and 1986 Venice Biennales.[11](https://www.balzan.org/it/premiati/maurizio-calvesi/bio-bibliografia) The art historian's own website identifies the cinematographer as his omonimo and distant relative, "the much younger renowned director of photography working in the film industry."[2](https://www.mauriziocalvesi.com/formazione/)
## References
1. [Maurizio Calvesi – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0130846/bio/)
2. [Formazione – Maurizio Calvesi, storico dell'arte, mauriziocalvesi.com](https://www.mauriziocalvesi.com/formazione/)
3. [Maurizio Calvesi – Biografia, Accattaroma pressbook](https://www.accattaroma.it/wp-content/uploads/Accattaroma-Pressbook.pdf)
4. [Maurizio Calvesi, IMDb (Italian)](https://www.imdb.com/it/name/nm0130846/)
5. [Maurizio Calvesi biografia, MYmovies.it](https://www.mymovies.it/persone/maurizio-calvesi/67369/)
6. [Societies News, IMAGO Newsletter 21](https://imago.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NEWSLETTER-21.pdf)
7. [MAURIZIO CALVESI direttore della fotografia, pressbook Non essere cattivo](https://www.fosforopress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/DEFPB-NON-ESSERE-CATTIVO.pdf)
8. [Maurizio Calvesi – filmografie direttori della fotografia, Filmitalia](https://filmitalia.org/it/filmography/4/8596/)
9. [La Stranezza. Conversazione con Maurizio Calvesi, AIC, IMAGO, aiccine.com](https://www.aiccine.com/interview/la-stranezza-conversazione-con-maurizio-calvesi-aic-imago/)
10. [Scheda persona Maurizio Calvesi, ASAC – La Biennale di Venezia](https://asac.labiennale.org/persone/309939)
11. [Maurizio Calvesi – Bio-Bibliografia, Fondazione Balzan](https://www.balzan.org/it/premiati/maurizio-calvesi/bio-bibliografia)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Cinematographers*
*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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