Jost Vacano

Birth : 1934-03-15, Osnabrück, Germany

History

Jost Vacano, BVK (born 15 March 1934) is a German cinematographer. He was the cinematographer of Das Boot and he also worked together with director Paul Verhoeven on seven films, including RoboCop and Total Recall. Member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 1991.

Movies

Das Boot Revisited: An Underwater Success Story
Self - Das Boot DOP (voice)
In 1981, a film about the misadventures of a German U-boat crew in 1941 becomes a worldwide hit almost four decades after the end of the World War II. Millions of viewers worldwide make Das Boot the most internationally successful German film of all time. But due to disputes over the script, accidents on the set, and voices accusing the makers of glorifying the war, the project was many times on the verge of being cancelled.
Roland Klick: The Heart Is a Hungry Hunter
Himself
The gritty, kinetic, visionary cinema of Roland Klick is ripe for rediscovery. After shooting with international stars, such as Mario Adorf and Dennis Hopper, Klick celebrated international success and achieved cult status. Yet after making only six features, he disappeared from the scene in a rather mysterious way. The story of an uncompromising film maniac.
Side by Side
Self
Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.
Flesh + Steel: The Making of 'RoboCop'
Himself
A look behind the scenes at the making of this science fiction classic about a policeman killed in the line of duty, only to be reborn as a half-man, half-machine supercop. Includes interviews with star Peter Weller and director Paul Verhoeven, who give their views on the efforts that went into making the film.
Hollow Man
Director of Photography
Cocky researcher Sebastian Caine is working on a project to make living creatures invisible. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough, Caine pushes his team to move to the next phase — using himself as the subject. The test is a success, but when the process can't be reversed and Caine seems doomed to future without flesh, he starts to turn increasingly dangerous.
Starship Troopers
Director of Photography
Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs".
Hollywood, Germany - Die amerikanische Herausforderung
Self
Documentary by Eckhart Schmidt.
Showgirls
Director of Photography
Fresh to Las Vegas with no connections, Nomi Malone takes a job as an exotic dancer. Her talents are quickly noticed by Cristal, a headlining dancer who senses an opportunity to bolster her own act. But Nomi won’t play second fiddle and soon begins her venomous path to the top, ruthlessly backstabbing anyone who gets in her way.
Untamed Heart
Director of Photography
Caroline, a young waitress who seems to have bad taste in men, is on her way home one night when thugs attempt to rape her. Adam, the mysterious busboy who works at the same diner, helps fight off the assailants, and she begins a relationship with him -- but not all their fellow Minnesotans are happy for them. Meanwhile, the couple face their own difficulties when Caroline finds about Adam's past, including his unique health condition.
Total Recall
Director of Photography
Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Recall, a company who manufacture memories. Something goes wrong during his memory implant turning Doug's life upside down and even to question what is reality and what isn't.
Rocket Gibraltar
Director of Photography
A man's family comes for his 77th birthday and while he loves all of his children and their children, he and his children don't exactly connect. However, he connects with his grandchildren. And he tells them what he wants for his birthday and they do what they can to give it to him.
RoboCop
Director of Photography
In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company's nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.
52 Pick-Up
Director of Photography
Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers confront him with a videotape of him with his young mistress and demand $100,000. Fearing that the story will hurt his wife's political campaign if he goes to the police, Harry pretends that he will pay the men, but does not follow through.
Die unendliche Geschichte
Director of Photography
While hiding from bullies in his school's attic, a young boy discovers the extraordinary land of Fantasia, through a magical book called The Neverending Story. The book tells the tale of Atreyu, a young warrior who, with the help of a luck dragon named Falkor, must save Fantasia from the destruction of The Nothing.
Die wilden Fünfziger
Director of Photography
Das Boot
Director of Photography
A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.
Spetters
Director of Photography
Three amateur dirt-bike racers each fall in love with a young woman who, with her brother, sells French fries and hotdogs at the races. Everyone is looking for a better life: she wants out of the business and away from her brother; and the motocross racers want to make their marks as professionals in their sport.
Tod oder Freiheit
Director of Photography
Soldier of Orange
Director of Photography
The lives of Erik Lanshof and five of his closest friends take different paths when the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940: fight and resistance, fear and resignation, collaboration and high treason.
Die Brüder
Director of Photography
21 Hours at Munich
Director of Photography
A dramatization of the incident in 1972 when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound in Munich and murdered 11 Israeli athletes.
Montana Trap
Director of Photography
Potato Fritz (Hardy Kruger) and his friends have moved from Germany to the American Wild West, settling eventually in the Rockies. They are besieged by what appear to them to be hostile Native Americans. Before too long, it becomes clear that the hostiles are in fact a gang of gold thieves. This movie is notable among German-made Westerns for its use of authentic period costumes and firearms.
Dear Fatherland Be at Peace
Director of Photography
1964 in Berlin, not long after the raise of the wall that separated the city: ex-prisoner Bruno is chosen by the eastern secret agency to be sent west with a special order. However as soon as he's crossed the border, he reports to the police. He claims his order was to kidnap someone, but he doesn't know who yet. He's forced to continue feignedly. However the east agents don't really trust him and play a double game...
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
Director of Photography
After a chance encounter with a wanted man, a woman is harassed by the police and press until she takes violent action.
Supermarket
Director of Photography
Willi is 18 years old and lives on the street. Without a goal in his life he walks around the city and meets several people, helping but also cheating him. When he meets a girl, Monica, he realizes that there are people out there whose lives are even more desperate than his. So he's trying to help her (and him) by planning a great robbery on a supermarket's money transporter.
Deutschstunde
Director of Photography
No Shooting Time for Foxes
Director of Photography
Two old school friends, both in their late twenties. One lives on his parent’s rural estate and does nothing; the other half-heartedly pursues work as a journalist in Düsseldorf.
Dresden 1964 - Im Zwinger
Director of Photography
Hollywood in Deliblatska Pescara
Director of Photography
Short documentary on the making of Henry Levin's Genghis Khan, which filmed on location in Yugoslavia. The final film's epic battle scenes are contrasted with the mundane reality of life on a film set.
Jugendweihe 1964/65
Director of Photography
Die Teutonen kommen
Director of Photography
A satirical examination of the ways the influx of German tourists to Spain affects the local population.
Bodega Bohemia
Director of Photography
Moscow Is Calling!
Director of Photography
A film made secretly in Moscow by Peter Schamoni during the World Festival of Youth and Students in the summer of 1957. His cameraman was Jost Vacano. During their trip, they made authentic film and audio recordings of a kind that had never been seen before in Western countries.