Paolo and Vittorio Taviani

Paolo (right) and Vittorio Taviani at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpaːolo, vitˈtɔːrjo taˈvjaːni]; born 8 November 1931 and 20 September 1929 respectively) are noted Italian film directors and screenwriters. They are brothers, who have always worked together, each directing alternate scenes.

Paolo Taviani's wife Lina Nerli Taviani has been costume designer of many of their films.

At the Cannes Film Festival the Taviani brothers won the Palme d'Or and the FIPRESCI prize for Padre padrone in 1977 and Grand Prix du Jury for La notte di San Lorenzo (The Night of the Shooting Stars, 1982). In 2012 they reached again the top prize in a major festival, winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival with Caesar Must Die.

Career

Both born in San Miniato, Tuscany, Italy, the Taviani brothers began their careers as journalists. In 1960 they came to the world of cinema, directing with Joris Ivens the documentary L'Italia non è un paese povero (Italy is not a poor country). They went on to direct two films with Valentino Orsini Un uomo da bruciare (1962) and I fuorilegge del matrimonio (1963).

Their first autonomous film was I sovversivi (The Subversives, 1967), with which they anticipated the events of 1968. With actor Gian Maria Volontè they gained attention with Sotto il segno dello scorpione (Under the Sign of Scorpio, (1969) where one can see the echoes of Brecht, Pasolini and Godard.

In 1971 they co-signed the media campaign against Milan's police commissioner Luigi Calabresi, published in the magazine L'espresso.

The revolutionary theme is present both in San Michele aveva un gallo (1971), an adaptation of Tolstoy's novel The Divine and the Human, a film greatly appreciated by critics, and in the film Allonsanfan (1974), in which Marcello Mastroianni has a role as an ex-revolutionary who has served a long term in prison and now views his idealistic youth in a much more realistic light, and nevertheless gets entangled in a new attempt in which he no longer believes.

Their next film Padre padrone (1977) (Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival), taken from a novel by Gavino Ledda, speaks of the struggle of a Sardinian shepherd against the cruel rules of his patriarchal society. In Il prato (1979) there are nonrealistic echoes, while La notte di San Lorenzo (Saint Lorenzo's night) (1982) narrates, in a fairy-tale tone, a marginal event in the days before the end of World War II, in Tuscany, as seen through the eyes of some village people. The film was awarded the Special Jury Award in Cannes.

Kaos (1984)—another literary adaptation—is a poignantly beautiful and poetical film in episodes, taken from Luigi Pirandello's Short Stories for a year. In Il sole anche di notte (1990) the Taviani brothers transposed in 18th century Naples the story from Tolstoy's "Father Sergius".

Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Storaro

From then onwards, the Taviani's inspiration proved faltering. Successes like Le affinità elettive, (1996, from Goethe) and an attempt to woo the international audiences like Good morning Babilonia, (1987), on the pioneers of cinema history, alternate with lesser films like Fiorile (1993) and Tu ridi (1996), inspired by the characters and short stories of Pirandello.

In the 2000s, the two brothers turned successfully to directing television films and miniseries. They gave a respectful adaptation of Tolstoy's Resurrection (2001) and Luisa Sanfelice (2004) a sort of romantic-popular ballad from a book by Alexandre Dumas.

Literary adaptations continue with La masseria delle allodole (2007), presented at the Berlin Film Festival in the section 'Berlinale Special'.

Their film Caesar Must Die won the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012.[1] The film was also selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.[2]

Filmography

As film directors

As screenwriters

  • San Miniato, luglio '44 (with Valentino Orsini and Cesare Zavattini, 1954)
  • Un uomo da bruciare (with Valentino Orsini, 1962)
  • I fuorilegge del matrimonio (with Lucio Battistrada, Giuliani G. De Negri, Renato Niccolai and Valentino Orsini, 1963)
  • I sovversivi (1967)
  • Sotto il segno dello scorpione (1969)
  • San Michele aveva un gallo (based on a story by Tolstoy, 1972)
  • Allonsanfàn (1973)
  • Padre padrone (based on a book by Gavino Ledda, 1977)
  • Il prato (with Gianni Sbarra, 1979)
  • La notte di San Lorenzo (with Giuliani G. De Negri and Tonino Guerra, 1982)
  • Kaos (based on short stories by Pirandello, 1984)
  • Good Morning, Babylon (with Tonino Guerra, 1987)
  • Il sole anche di notte (with Tonino Guerra, 1990)
  • Fiorile (with Sandro Petraglia, 1993)
  • Le affinità elettive (based on a novella by Goethe, 1996)
  • Tu ridi (based on short stories by Pirandello, 1998)
  • Resurrezione (based on a novel by Tolstoy, 2001)
  • Luisa Sanfelice (based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père, 2004)

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Jail docu-drama Caesar Must Die wins Berlin award". BBC News. 2012-02-19. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  2. ↑ "L'Italia candida agli Oscar il film dei fratelli Taviani". Gazzetta di Parma. Gazzetta di Parma. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "24th Moscow International Film Festival (2002)". MIFF. Retrieved 2013-03-31.
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