Francesco Rosi

Francesco Rosi (born November 15, 1922, Naples) is an Italian film director. He is the father of the actress Carolina Rosi.

Biography

After studying Law, but hoping to study film, Rosi entered the industry as an assistant to Luchino Visconti on La Terra trema (1948). He made his debut as a director with the film Camicie Rosse (Red Shirts, 1952), taking over over from leading director Goffredo Alessandrini after he abandoned the production. His true emergence as a director is considered to be his 1958 film La sfida (The Challenge, 1958), based on the story of Camorra boss Pasquale Simonetti, known as Pasquale 'e Nola, and Pupetta Maresca.^[1] The realist nature of this film also caused a stir alluding to mafia control of the government.

Throughout the 1960s Rosi made films that centre around controversial issues, starting with Salvatore Giuliano, a film that won him won the Silver Bear award for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1962.

In 1965 his Momento della Verità (Moment of Truth) tells the story of Miguel, a boy who eventually becomes a bullfighter and dies in this deadly profession. This film articulates the dangers to the animals and the matadors in this deadly sport. The film, however, is considered to be a mediocre effort from Rosi.

The years 1972 to 1976 cemented Rosi's reputation internationally as a director with Il Caso Mattei (Mattei Affair, 1972) which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival, A proposito Lucky Luciano (Lucky Luciano, 1974) and Cadaveri Eccellenti (Illustrious Corpses, 1976).

Rosi's films always appear to have political messages, especially his work in the 1960s and 1970s. As he matured as a director his topics for films became less politically oriented and more angled toward literature. Despite the more traditional slant of his later work, Rosi continued to direct until 1997.

The 58th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008 played tribute to Francesco Rosi by screening 13 films in its Homage section, the latter being reserved to filmmakers of outstanding quality and achievement. He received the Golden Bear (award) for Lifetime Achievement on February 14, 2008, accompanied with the screening of Salvatore Giuliano.

Filmography

• Redshirts (1952)
• Kean (1956)
• The Challenge or La sfida (1958)
• The Magliari (1959)
• Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
• Hands Over the City (1963)
• The Moment of Truth (1965)
• More than a Miracle (1967)
• Many Wars Ago (1970)
• The Mattei Affair (1972)
• Lucky Luciano (1974)
• Cadaveri eccellenti (1976)
• Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)
• Three Brothers (1981)
• Carmen (1984)
• Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1987)
• 12 registi per 12 città (1989, a collaboration work with 11 other directors)
• Palermo (1990)
• Neapolitan Diary (1992)
• The Truce (1997)

References

• Poet of Civic Courage- The Films of Francesco Rosi, Edited by Carlo Testa
• Hands Over the City: cinema as political indictment and social commitment, Manuela Gieri 1996
• 58th Berlinale - Homage 2008 Francesco Rosi

External links

• Q&A with Rosi from The Hollywood Reporter
• Biography of Francesco Rosi from Senses of Cinema
• Francesco Rosi at the Internet Movie Database
• More on Rosi from Answers.com

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