Piero Basso
Cinematographer · Born December 13, 1973 (52) · Borgomanero, Italy
Born and raised in northern Italy, Piero Basso graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from the University of Turin, with a specialization in Cinema Studies. While writing his thesis on the works of David Lynch, he already knew that Cinematography would be his ultimate pursuit. Piero began building a career as a director of photography while also specializing as a Steadicam operator. He built his first years collaborating with some of the most talented director of his generation, including Gianluca and Massimiliano de Serio and Susanna Nicchiarelli. In 2008 he moved to the United States of America, to New York, where he still lives today, while keeping a strong professional connection with Europe and Italy. In 2009, after being invited to join the AIC (Italian Association of Cinematographers), he was in competition at the 29th Turin Film Festival with Santina directed by Gioberto Pignatelli, and in 2011 he was the cinematographer for Sette Opere di Misericordia, debut feature film for Gianluca and Massimiliano de Serio, presented in Competition at the 64th Locarno Film Festival. The following years saw him mainly active in the USA shooting, between others, on Lanre Olabisi's Somewhere in the Middle, Meredith Edwards' Imagine I'm Beautiful and Rick Lopez's American Genius for National Geographic. In 2014 Piero comes back to Italy to light the first feature of Sebastiano Riso Più Buio di Mezzanotte, for a world premiere at the Semaine of the Critique during the 67th Cannes Film Festival the following year. In the latest years, Piero has been active on multiple fronts. He shot Min Alesh?, a feature film in Ethiopia with local creative team and talents, while working as well on The Independents with director Greg Naughton, Teresa Costantini on Here and Now, Marco Risi in L'Aquila Grandi Speranze, a television series on the aftermath of the 2009 Earthquake. He has teamed again with Sebastiano Riso for Una Famiglia, in competition at the 74th Venice Film Festival, and worked for the first time with Federico Bondi on Dafne, presented in the Panorama Section at the 69th Berlin Film Festival and winner of the Fipresci award as Best Feature Film of the section. In the USA he worked with director Robert Jury on Working Man, with Peter Gerety, Talia Shire and Billy Brown as lead actors and recently lensed the first feature film of screenwriter Daniel Talbott and actress Samantha Soule, Midday Black Midnight Blue In 2018 he became the Chair of the Cinematography Program for New York Film Academy at the New York Campus. Piero Basso is based in NYC, where he lives with his wife, daughter and son. He is bilingual and holds permanent residency in the U.S and European Citizenship.
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Biography from TMDB.
- December 13, 1973 (52)
- Borgomanero, Italy
- Cinematographer
- 6 on MovieCove · 21 credits in all
What are Piero Basso's films like?
Across their 6 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Self.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 6
Light 1 · Serious 4 · Dark 1
Grounded 4 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 0
Gentle 1 · Charged 4 · Intense 1
Steady 3 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 5 · Even-paced 0 · Relentless 1
Casual 2 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 2
A split, not a type: Easy watch 1 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 3
A split, not a type: Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 3
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet2
- Ambiguous3
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Piero Basso's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 5 of their 6 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Piero Basso's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
21 credits, 6 with a MovieCove page.
Canone effimero (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
Beautiful Catastrophe (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2024)
Through the Modern Looking Glass (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2023)
Midcredits score: 30th percentile of all films
L'Aquila - Grandi speranze (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2019)
Dafne (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2019)
Working Man(2019)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
The Independents(2018)
Midcredits score: 66th percentile of all films
A Family (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)
Porn to Be Free (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)
Laurence(2016)
Midcredits score: 71st percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Somewhere in the Middle(2015)
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
Imagine I'm Beautiful (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
Darker Than Midnight (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
The Secret Village(2013)
Midcredits score: 2nd percentile of all films
Giovanna Z., una storia d'amore (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)
Zakaria (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2005)
My Brother Yang (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)
Audrey La Mer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Front Range (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Soft Animal (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 19 titles, 16 of them dated from 2004 to 2025.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it.
How do Piero Basso's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 59th percentile, the median of all 6; across their 6 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 53rd percentile for acclaim.
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th1
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
2 of their 6 titles are Divisive.
- Divisive2
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser1
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the cinematography 77/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a cinematographer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Piero Basso work with?
People who share at least 2 of Piero Basso's MovieCove titles; Morgan Halsey shares the most, 2.
- Morgan HalseyShared titles: Midday Black Midnight Blue (2022), Working Man (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Morgan Halsey
- Lovell HolderShared titles: Midday Black Midnight Blue (2022), Working Man (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Lovell Holder
