GIULIANO MONTALDO

Giuliano Montaldo was born in 1930, in Genoa. His first contacts with cinema occur thanks to the director Lizzani who recruits him for a role in the movie Attention! Bandits!(Achtung!Banditi!) (1951). But Montaldo is very keen to learn all about film making and he participates to the organization of the movie too. Aftertwards he continues to play in Lizzani's movies but also in other movies of Luciano Emmer and Valerio Zurlino besides working as an assistant director of Lizzani, in Esterina (1959), and of Elio Petri in L'assassino (1961).
Beginning from the second half of the Fifthies' he becomes the assistant director of Gillo Pontecorvo, working with him in the making of The Big Blue Way (La Grande strada azzurra) (1957), Kapò (1960) e The Battle of Algiers (La Battaglia di Alfieri) (1966). In 1958-59 Montaldo makes his debut as a director with some short films, while his first film is Pigeon Shoot (Tiro al piccione) (1960), followed by La moglie svedese (1964) an episode of Extraconjugal (Extraconiugale)(1964) and by Reckless (Una Bella Grinta) (1964) that wins the Special Prize of the Jury at Berlin Film Festival. In this movie Montaldo deals with the ticklish topic of the economic changes which occur in the Sixties' in Italy, leading to a cynic revolution of the social values.

Montaldo's movies are characterised by the choice of topics dealing with man's changes and difficulties in living in an evolving society which doesn't accept him.
This leads spectators to be sympathetic with characters, even when the plot of the movie refers to events historically distant. it explains the success of Sacco e Vanzetti (1969)winning Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival and of Revolt of the City (Giordano Bruno) (1973) that deals with the life of the philosopher Giordano Bruno, in particular the last years and the moment when, in 1600, he is burnt at the stake, in Campo dei Fiori in Rome.Both movies are preceded by Gott mit uns (1969). In Agnese Chose to Die (L'Agnese ha deciso di morire) (1976) the director deals with the Italian Resistance Movement starting from a novel of Viganò and adopting a female point of view to say what happened in those moments.
In 1979 he directs Il Giocattolo, while in 1982 he produces the colossal television series Marco Polo which wins the Emmy Award for the best television series. In the eighties' he directs also The gold rimmed glasses (Occhiali d'oro) (1987) and Mind control (Il Giorno prima) (1987) In the first of these movies Montaldo deals with the prejudices of homosexuality and different religions. But the director is also a passionately interested in opera and this leads him to direct some performances such as Turandot (1983 e 1999), Pipistrello (1984), Bohème (1994), Otello (1994), Il flauto magico (1995), Nabucco (1997) e Un ballo in Maschera (1998). Succesively he made other movies: Tempo di uccidere (1990), Ci sarà una volta (1992) e Le Stagioni delle aquile (1997). Montaldo, apart from direction, is involved in different activities.In fact he has been the RAI cinema President and he is now the artistic director of important cinematographic competitions and festivals. Moreover, he has recentely played a role in the last Nanni Moretti's movie, The Caimano(2006).