Born and raised in northern Italy, Piero studied Cinema and Art Studies at the University of Turin. There he analyzed  the work of directors such as Truffaut, Kubrick, Lynch, and Wenders and  developed a deep interest in visual storytelling. He was inspired by the images of artists like Boris Kaufman, Sven Nykvist, Robbie Muller and Conrad L. Hall.  He graduated with a thesis on the works of David Lynch, knowing that cinematography would be his ultimate pursuit.

 

 

Piero  began  building a career as a director of photography while also working as an Steadicam operator,  He photographed  a number of award winning films and documentaries with some of the most interesting young directors in Italy.  He presented himself as a talented &  fast director of photography, with a strong and mature vision.

He shot three feature films, two with very low budgets showing a great capacity for managing the problems of limited equipment and crew while maintaining a distinctive visual character, as well as many short films and documentaries. They have been awarded important prizes and received international recognition, including  nominations at the European Film Awards & at the David di Donatello and several victories at Festivals around the globe (including Oberhausen, Edinburgh, Turin, and Huesca).

 

 

The main characteristics of Piero’s work are the strong visual personality, connected with a deep understanding of the moviemaking process and a great capacity of adaptation to work in various and demanding conditions and with different crews. He is able to work on large productions as well as with small crews  using only available and practical light.

 

 

Piero believes strongly that the work of the director of photography is to understand the dreams of someone else and recreate them as well as possible on the silver screen with special sensitivity to the creative integrity.

 

 

After living and working in Rome for the last  few  years, he recently moved to NYC, where he lives with his wife and daughter. Piero Basso is bilingual and holds permanent residency and an employment work visa in the USA.