Gianni Amelio | |
|---|---|
 Amelio at the49th Venice International Film Festival (1992) | |
| Born | (1944-01-20)20 January 1944 (age 81) San Pietro di Magisano,Catanzaro, Italy |
| Occupation | Film director |
Gianni Amelio (born 20 January 1944) is an Italian film director.
Amelio was born inSan Pietro di Magisano,province of Catanzaro,Calabria. His father moved toArgentina soon after his birth. He spent his youth and adolescence with his mother and his grandmother. The absence of a paternal figure would be a constant in Amelio's future works.
During his university studies of philosophy inMessina, Amelio got interested in cinema, writing as film critic for a local magazine. In 1965 he moved toRome, where he worked asoperator and assistant director for figures such asLiliana Cavani andVittorio De Seta. He also worked for television, directing documentaries and advertisements.
Amelio's first important work is the TV filmLa città del sole, directed in 1973 forRAI TV and inspired toTommaso Campanella's work. This was followed byBertolucci secondo il cinema (1976) a documentary about1900 shooting, and the thrillerEffetti speciali. Two years later he directed the mysteryLa morte al lavoro, which won prizes atLocarno andHyères festivals.The Little Archimedes (Il piccolo Archimede) of 1979 was also critically acclaimed.
In 1982 he debuted for cinema proper withBlow to the Heart (Colpire al cuore), about Italian terrorism, presented at theVenice Film Festival. In 1987 Amelio releasedI ragazzi di via Panisperna, about the lives of 1930 Italian physicists such asEnrico Fermi andEdoardo Amaldi, which won the award for best screenplay at theBari Film Festival. 1989'sOpen Doors (Porte aperte), featuringGian Maria Volonté, confirmed Amelio's status as one of Italy's best film directors and won a nomination as Best Foreign Film at 1991 Academy Awards. The film received also four Felix, twoSilver Ribbon, fourDavid di Donatello and three Golden Globes awards.
Also successful wasThe Stolen Children (Il ladro di bambini) in 1992, which won the Special Prize of Jury at the1992 Cannes Film Festival[1] plus two Silver Ribbon and 5 David di Donatello. In 1994Lamerica, about Albanian immigration in Italy, repeated the fate and the success, with 2 Silver Ribbons and 3 Davids. Four years later,The Way We Laughed (Così ridevano) won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Amelio gained another Silver Ribbon as best director forThe Keys to the House (Le chiavi di casa), inspired to a novel byGiuseppe Pontiggia, of 2004.
Amelio was a member of jury at theCannes Film Festival in 1995. In 2006 he released his eighth feature film,The Missing Star (La stella che non c'è), featuringSergio Castellitto. From 2009 to 2012 he has been director ofTorino Film Festival,Turin.
Amelio came out as gay late in life, shortly before the release of his 2014 documentaryHappy to be Different.[2]
