List of Italians - Filmmakers

Filmmakers

• Filoteo Alberini (1865–1937), film director, one of the pioneers of cinema; devised the wide screen movies (1914)
• Gianni Amelio (born 1945), film director. He achieved international fame with The Stolen Children (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival)
• Michelangelo Antonioni (1912–2007), film director. His most successful motion pictures internationally were L'avventura (1960) and Blow-up (1966)
• Dario Argento (born 1940), film director, producer and screenwriter. Among his best known films we find The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), Deep Red (1975) and Suspiria (1977)
• Pupi Avati (born 1938), film director, producer and screenwriter. Some of his most successful films were Impiegati (1985), Christmas Present (1986) and The Last Minute (1987)
• Marco Bellocchio (born 1939), film director, screenwriter and actor. Known for his debut film Fists in the Pocket (1965)
• Roberto Benigni (born 1952), film director and actor. One of the most popular comics of Italian cinema; in 1997 he wrote, directed and starred in the international hit Life is Beautiful
• Bernardo Bertolucci (born 1940), film director and screenwriter. Last Tango in Paris (1972) brought him international fame
• Luigi Comencini (1916–2007), film director. Leading figure in Italian cinema; best known for his film Bread, Love and Dreams (1953)
• Giuseppe De Santis (1917–1997), film director; best known for his direction of Bitter Rice (1949), considered the first successful Neorealist film
• Vittorio De Seta (born 1923), film director. He made nine such short documentaries over the decade and in 1960 made his feature film directorial debut with the acclaimed Banditi a Orgosolo
• Vittorio De Sica (1901/1902–1974), film director and actor. His Shoeshine (1946), The Bicycle Thief (1948), and Umberto D. (1952) are classics of postwar Italian neorealism
• Ruggero Deodato (born 1939), film director, actor and screen writer. Creator of one of the most infamous splatter films of all time, 1979's neo-realist Amazonian nightmare Cannibal Holocaust
• Federico Fellini (1920–1993), film director. Won Oscars for La Strada (1954), Le Notti di Cabiria (1957), 8 1/2 (1963) and Amarcord (1973); one of the 20th century's most influential movie directors
• Marco Ferreri (1928–1997), film director. The his best-known film is La Grande Bouffe (1973)
• Lucio Fulci (1927–1996), film director, screenwriter and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombi 2 (1979) and The Beyond (1981)
• Matteo Garrone (born 1968), film director; best known for his film Gomorrah (2008)
• Pietro Germi (1914–1974), film director and actor. The film Divorce Italian Style (1961) was a huge worldwide box-office hit which earned him an Oscar for best screenplay
• Alberto Lattuada (1914–2005), film director. Was a major figure in Italian cinema of the period after World War II. Best known for co-directing with Fellini on his first film, Variety Lights (1950)
• Sergio Leone (1929–1989), film director. He is mostly associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre, especially the dollar trilogy; one of the most influential directors of his generation
• Mario Monicelli (1915–2010), film director. One of the masters of the Commedia all'Italiana
• Nanni Moretti (born 1953), film director. He is known for his films Caro diario (1993) and The Son's Room (2001)
• Ermanno Olmi (born 1931), film director; best known for his internationally successful The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
• Ferzan Özpetek (born 1959), film director and screenwriter. Among his best known films we find The Ignorant Fairies (2001) and Facing Windows (2003)
• Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975), film director and writer. His films include Mamma Roma (1962), The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), Oedipus Rex (1967) and Teorema (1968)
• Giovanni Pastrone (1883–1959), film director and producer. He conceived a colossal film designed to revolutionize moviemaking, a goal he realized with Cabiria (1914)
• Elio Petri (1929–1982), film director and screenwriter. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), is generally considered his masterpiece
• Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), film director; best known for authoring The Battle of Algiers (1966)
• Francesco Rosi (born 1922), film director; best known for his masterpiece Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
• Roberto Rossellini (1906–1977), film director. His films Rome, Open City (1945) and Paisà (1946) focussed international attention on the Italian Neorealist movement in films
• Gabriele Salvatores (born 1950), film director and screenwriter; best known for his film Mediterraneo (1991)
• Michele Soavi (born 1957), film director; best known for his film Cemetery Man (1994)
• Silvio Soldini (born 1958), film director. Among his best known films we find Bread and Tulips (1999) and Agata e la tempesta (2004)
• Paolo Sorrentino (born 1970), film director and screenwriter. He is known for his film The Consequences of Love (2004)
• Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (born 1931 and 1929), have directed together several successful movies. Among those are: Padre Padrone (1977), The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982) and Kaos (1984)
• Giuseppe Tornatore (born 1956), film director. He is best known for his masterpiece Cinema Paradiso (1988)
• Luchino Visconti (1906–1976), film and theatre director; called the father of neorealism for his early films Ossessione (1943) and La terra trema (1948)
• Lina Wertmüller (born 1928), film director. She achieved international fame with The Seduction of Mimi (1972), a satire on sexual hypocrisy, and Love and Anarchy (1973)
• Franco Zeffirelli (born 1923), film director. Among his major films are three Shakespeare adaptations: The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Hamlet (1990)
• Valerio Zurlini (1926–1982), film director, stage director and screenwriter. He is well known for his internationally successful Estate Violenta (1959)