The Locarno Film Festival is leading the tributes to Italian filmmaker Paolo Taviani, who has died aged 92.
Alongside his brother Vittorio (who died aged 88 in 2018), the duo created numerous notable titles, including Sardinian countryside drama Padre Padrone, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in1977, and the Berlin 2012 Golden Bear winner Caesar Must Die.
In a statement, Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro said: “The story of Paolo and Vittorio Taviani is also that of Italian cinema after the end of the Second World War. Their work, which marked a crucial moment in cinematic modernity, was paid tribute to by the Locarno Film Festival on several occasions.”
He added, referencing Taviani’s 2022 film Leonora Addio, which played in competition at the Berlinale: “Paolo was accessible and generous. He had been through crucial periods of our history and of Italian cinema, yet his desire to share and confront did not diminish with age.”
Other notable films by the brothers, who began their careers as journalists, included 1972 Leo Tolstoy adaptation St. Michael Had A Rooster; Allonsanfàn .starring Marcello Mastroianni; fantasy war drama The Night Of The Shooting Stars, winner of the special jury prize at Cannes in 1982; and 1996 Cannes premiere The Elective Affinities, starring Isabelle Huppert.
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