CÉSAR CHARLONE - Cinematographer
Team Deakins
James Ellis Deakins
4.9 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2025
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
SEASON 2 - EPISODE 174 - César Charlone - Cinematographer
In this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with cinematographer César Charlone (PARTIDO, BLINDNESS, CITY OF GOD). Born in Uruguay, César found filmmaking after interrupting his veterinarian studies to hitchhike across Brazil. Throughout our conversation, we discuss César's general approach to cinematography, the degree of work he does in post, the amount of prep he performs before every film, and his long-time professional partnership with director Fernando Meirelles. César also reveals how he first met Fernando and describes how they worked together to create the look of CITY OF GOD and shoot the complex film with young non-actors. We later discuss how much César adjusts the image after capturing it on set, and we reflect on using any technology available to make the best film possible. In addition to his work as a cinematographer, César also co-directed THE POPE'S TOILET, and we discuss how he got involved with the project and the reality that inspired the film's story. César has also directed a film about Uruguay's José Artigas and worked on a documentary following Brazil's current Minister of Finance Fernando Haddad, and we discuss his commitment to documenting the realities of living in South America.
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This episode is sponsored by Aputure
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi and welcome to season two of the Team Deacons podcast, a collection of informal conversations |
| 0:10.1 | between Roger and James Deacons and a guest. We never know where the conversation will take |
| 0:16.0 | us, so listen in and see where it goes. |
| 0:29.3 | This episode is sponsored by Aperture and its new Storm XT-52, the industry's most powerful LED point source light. Brighter than a 6K-HMI empowered by Aperture's revolutionary |
| 0:36.7 | Blair light engine, the Storm XT-52 is both a tunable |
| 0:41.8 | white light and also the brightest ever adjustable color LED. |
| 0:47.0 | Storm XT-52, unrivaled output, only from Aperture. |
| 0:55.7 | Today we're speaking with the cinematographer. |
| 0:58.8 | His credits include The Constant Gardner, Blindness, and the Two Popes. |
| 1:04.4 | We're pleased to welcome, Cesar Shalone. |
| 1:08.2 | Oh, it's my pleasure. |
| 1:09.6 | Welcome. |
| 1:10.4 | Thank you for doing this. |
| 1:12.3 | You asked me to send you some pictures, and I just did now. |
| 1:17.5 | And whatever the picture that I shared, it's one that I am with Roger, that to me was a great honor to meet one of my heroes. |
| 1:28.3 | Oh, my God, stop right there. |
| 1:31.8 | Okay, I stopped. |
| 1:32.7 | That's great. |
| 1:33.7 | Thank you. |
| 1:34.5 | Thank you for saying that. |
| 1:36.3 | Well, vice versa. |
| 1:37.7 | So we'll start with our normal question, which is, how did you get to where you are today? |
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