Elio Petri

Although the self-taught filmmaker and intellectual took the Palme d'Or at Cannes (The Working Class Goes to Heaven, 1971) and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion, 1969), he was intentionally marginalized until recently thanks to his pointed, uncompromising views of contemporary politics, morality, and art. This fascinating personality attracted numerous key figures of Italian film, and they became his long-term friends and cooperators on distinctively stylized movies: screenwriters Tonino Guerra (including Numbered Days and A Quiet Place in the Country) and Ugo Pirro (e.g. We Still Kill the Old Way and Property Is No Longer a Theft), composer Ennio Morricone (cooperation on seven films), and actors Gian Maria Volonté (including Todo modo) and Marcello Mastroianni (e.g. The Assassin and The 10th Victim).

MFF Karlovy Vary