Gianni Amelio

Gianni Amelio
Amelio at the 49th Venice International Film Festival (1992)
Born	(1945-01-20) 20 January 1945 (age 72) San Pietro di Magisano, Catanzaro
Occupation	Film director

Gianni Amelio (born 20 January 1945) is an Italian film director.

Amelio was born in San Pietro di Magisano, province of Catanzaro, Calabria. 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 figures will be a constant in Amelio's future works.

During his university studies of philosophy in Messina, Amelio got interested in cinema, writing as film critic for a local magazine. In 1965 he moved to Rome, where he worked as operator and assistant director for figures such as Liliana Cavani and Vittorio De Seta. He also worked for television, 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 to Tommaso Campanella's work. This was followed by Bertolucci secondo il cinema (1976) a documentary about 1900 shooting, and the thriller Effetti speciali. Two years later he directed the mystery La morte al lavoro, which won prizes at Locarno and Hyères festivals. Il piccolo Archimede of 1979 was also critically acclaimed.

In 1982 he debuted for cinema proper 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 Volontè, 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 4 Felix, 2 Silver Ribbon, 4 David di Donatello and 3 Golden Globes awards.