Gabriele Salvatores | |
|---|---|
 Gabriele Salvatores atLucca Comics & Games 2014 | |
| Born | (1950-07-30)30 July 1950 (age 75) Naples, Italy |
| Occupations |
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| Awards | Academy Award in 1991 forMediterraneo |
Gabriele Salvatores (born 30 July 1950) is an ItalianAcademy Award-winning film director and screenwriter.
Born inNaples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding inMilan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directed several avant-garde pieces until 1989.
In that year, he directed his third feature film,Marrakech Express, which was followed in 1990 byTurné. Both films shared a group of actor-friends, includingDiego Abatantuono andFabrizio Bentivoglio, who will be present in many of his later movies.Turné was screened in theUn Certain Regard section at the1990 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
In 1991, Salvatores received international praise forMediterraneo, which won an Academy Award as best foreign film.[2] It also won threeDavid di Donatello, the most important award for Italian cinema, and aNastro d'Argento.
In 1992, he releasedPuerto Escondido, from the eponymous novel byPino Cacucci, in which Abatantuono and Bentivoglio were joined by another standard actor for Salvatores,Claudio Bisio. The following year, he directedSud, featuringSilvio Orlando, an attempt to denounce the political and social situation of theMezzogiorno of Italy seen from the point of view of the unemployed and those at the margins of society.
The main themes of Salvatores' screenplays are escape from a reality that cannot be accepted or understood, nostalgia for friends, and voyages that never end. A new experimental period, however, started in 1997 withNirvana, a science fiction/cyberpunk attempt which received mixed reviews. This was followed by the surrealDenti (Teeth, 2000), andAmnèsia (2002). Both featuredSergio Rubini.
In 2003, he directed the financially successfulI'm Not Scared, based on theNiccolò Ammaniti novel of the same name. In 2005 he directed thenoirQuo Vadis, Baby?. His 2008 filmAs God Commands was entered into the31st Moscow International Film Festival.[3]
Since 2011, Salvatores has been the artistic director of theMilan Film Festival.[4]
