Felicia Varlotto

Your diagnosis of diplopia at a young age has clearly influenced your artistic vision. Can you describe how this layered perception continues to shape your cinematography today?

At its core, my experience with diplopia taught me to think outside the box and remain openminded. When the first couple years of your life you are seeing the world through a visually distorted lens, that perception becomes your “normal.” After corrective surgery, I’ll never forget the first day I could see clearly. I remember how drastic and striking that visual shift was from what I had once accepted as reality. That awareness of multiple ways of seeing continues to shape my cinematography today.

When I create visuals, I aim to think abstractly and push beyond conventional choices. I want each project to feel distinctive to the world within the confines of the story subject matter. Sometimes that means drawing inspiration from seemingly unconventional films or artwork and adapting those ideas to fit naturally within a new film’s context. Other times, I’ll experiment with filtration or practical effects to develop unique textures and visual intrigue to create a visual distinctiveness within my work. Ultimately, I strive to use these layered ways of seeing to create visuals that are innovative and help to amplify the emotions at the heart of the piece.

Many of your works incorporate surrealist elements and practical effects. What draws you to these techniques, and how do you decide when to use them?

One of the most surreal moments of my life was the day after surgery, when I saw “normally” for the first time. That experience profoundly shaped me and naturally drew me toward surrealist work. I’ve always been inspired by surrealist artists. Whether in painting, photography, or film’s like Enter the Void and TV shows like The Twilight Zone, which reveal deeper truths and understandings about reality through abstraction and dreamlike imagery.

Additionally, earlier in my career, I studied short experimental films that used overlays, distortions, and unusual practical effects. Those visuals resonated with me because they mirrored aspects of how I once experienced the world. Today, I often incorporate similar techniques, using both modern and vintage practical filtration to craft imagery that feels strange, yet emotionally honest. For me, surrealism is not just a genre or style, it is a complex way of expressing hidden layers of perception and deeper meaning that exist within our reality.

How do you balance your personal artistic voice with the specific emotional tone or commercial demands of a client project?

I think the most important thing to remember with any client project is that it’s ultimately about serving their vision. Adhering to the visual style of the company, brand, or individual is always the top priority. Because of that, I spend a great amount time communicating with the director or a client to have a clear vision of their goals and then study multiple filtration and/camera technique, lenses, and visual approaches until I achieve a detailed portrait of the lasting visual impressions that the director wants the audience to experience.

However, when a project calls for more creative freedom, especially those that contain more dreamlike or surreal imagery, I’m able to lean more into my own artistic voice. In those cases, my personal style becomes a bigger part of the storytelling, but always in a way that aids to the story and supports the varied emotions of a piece.

You often explore themes of perspective, identity, and the fluid nature of reality. What personal experiences or philosophies inspire these recurring themes?

I believe perception and understanding are deeply subjective, varying greatly from person to person. The way someone recalls a memory, interprets color, or perceives shape and perspective is never identical, and I find that to be extremely fascinating. In my personal work, I often experiment with shadows, reflections, or double exposures as a way to explore this idea.

To me, our perceptions are always shifting, reshaped by time and experience, and that fluidity feels inherently abstract. Time is in and of itself an abstraction. In addition, visuals of shadows might symbolize memories of the past, while reflections can represent the search for self-understanding in a more metaphysical sense. By creating surreal landscapes or layered imagery around my subjects, I aim to tap into the subconscious, creating a deeper blur in the line between external reality and internal thought. This idea creates and invites viewers to question how they see themselves and the world around them. Ultimately, I hope that my work strikes deep emotions within the viewer and leaves them with powerful visions and feelings that are always memorable.

What role do dreams and memory play in your creative process when developing new visual concepts?

I’ve always had very vivid dreams that often feel inseparable from memory. I can recall many dreams with such clarity that it feels as if they have become part of my lived experience. When I develop new visual concepts, whether for narrative work or photography, I often draw from these dreams or memories within my life as they carry emotions that can’t be fabricated and can be strongly felt and perceived.

I turn to these moments as a source of deeper authenticity, hoping to create a stronger emotional connection elicited from the work to the audience. Visually, I like to take places or moments that feel rooted in reality and stretch them into something more dreamlike through unusual lenses, filtration, or practical techniques. That way, when someone encounters the image, it feels both familiar and unfamiliar. This then invites the audience into re-imagining the work through their own unique experiences and memories.