Gianni Amelio

Italian film director.

His father moved to Argentina soon after his birth. He spent his youth and adolescence with his mother and his grandmother. The absence of a paternal figure became a constant influence on Amelio's future works.

During his university studies of philosophy in Messina, Amelio got interested in cinema, writing as a film critic for a local magazine. In 1965 he moved to Rome, where he worked as an operator and assistant director for figures such as Liliana Cavani and Vittorio De Seta. He also worked in the television industry, directing documentaries and advertisements.

Amelio's first important work is the TV film "La città del sole," directed in 1973 for RAI TV and inspired by Tommaso Campanella's work. This was followed by "Bertolucci secondo il cinema" (1976) a documentary about the 1900 shooting, and the thriller "Effetti speciali." Two years later he directed the mystery "La morte al lavoro," which won prizes at the Locarno and Hyères festivals. "Il piccolo Archimede" of 1979 was also critically acclaimed.

In 1982, he debuted in mainstream cinema with "Colpire al cuore" ("Shoot in the Heart"), about Italian terrorism, presented at the Venice Film Festival. In 1987 Amelio released "I ragazzi di via Panisperna," about the lives of 1930 Italian physicists such as Enrico Fermi and Edoardo Amaldi, which won the award for best screenplay at the Bari Film Festival. 1989's "Porte aperte" (Open Doors), featuring Gian Maria Volonté, confirmed Amelio's status as one of Italy's best film directors and won a nomination as Best Foreign Film at the 1991 Academy Awards.

Also successful was "Il ladro di bambini" (Stolen Children, 1992), which won the Special Jury Prize at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. In 1998, "Così ridevano" won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Amelio was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. In 2006, he released his eighth feature film, "La stella che non c'è," featuring Sergio Castellitto.