ROME – Spanish cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine, known for his vivid color palette and his work with Pedro Almodovar and other influential directors, will be recognized by the Locarno Film Festival with its Vision Award honoring technical achievements and advancements in film.
Besides working on five Almodovar films, including “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988), “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” (1989), and, more recently, “Volver” (2006) (pictured), Alcaine has been instrumental in defining the original look of Spanish cinema starting in the early 1980s alongside such directors as Victor Erice, Fernando Trueba, and Vicente Aranda. He made a dozen films with Aranda, including steamy Franco-era-set noir “Lovers” (1991).
Outside Spain, Alacaine has also collaborated with Italian directors Alberto Lattuada, Fabio Carpi, and Giovanni Veronesi, among others. He is currently shooting Brian De Palma’s new thriller, “Domino,” starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Carice van Houten, and will soon be working on the next project by two-time Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi, a still-untitled Spanish pic starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
“Film is not just storytelling, but first and foremost a gaze on the world, and that world sees the light thanks to artists like Alcaine, who can impress upon film – and now on digital formats – both the tints and shadows of human skin and the extraordinary work of actors and art designers,” Locarno artistic director Carlo Chatrian said in a statement.
Previous winners of the Locarno Vision Award include visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull (2013), cinematographer and steadycam inventor Garrett Brown (2014), editor Walter Murch (2015), and composer Howard Shore (2016).
The 70th Locarno Festival will run Aug. 2-12.
