Pontecorvo
Oct. 13th, 2006 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ltmurnauFrom CBC News today:
Battle of Algiers director dead at 86
Last Updated: Friday, October 13, 2006 | 10:45 AM ET
CBC Arts
Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo, who is best known for his 1966 film The Battle of Algiers, has died at age 86.
Pontecorvo died at the Polyclinic Gemelli hospital in Rome on Thursday night, a hospital spokesman said. No cause of death was given, but he had recently suffered a heart attack.
Although he directed fewer than 20 films, Pontecorvo was regarded as one of Italy's greatest directors.
The Battle of Algiers was a documentary-style black-and-white film that showed brutality on both sides in Algeria's war of independence from France.
It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for three Oscars.
The film still resonates today in the fighting against the insurgency in Iraq.
In 2003, the Pentagon screened the film to officers and civilian experts, promoting it with a leaflet that said: "How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas."
He was born Gilberto Pontecorvo on Nov. 19, 1919, in Pisa to a wealthy Jewish family.
In 1938, he moved to France to escape Italy's fascist racial laws. He became an anti-fascist activist in France, then returned to Milan and headed a Resistance brigade during the Second World War.
He studied chemistry and worked as a journalist before taking up directing, starting with documentaries.
Pontecorvo maintained strong political passions that were reflected in his movies.
His 1959 film Kapo told the story of a Jewish girl attempting to escape a concentration camp. Qeimada, made in 1969, starred Marlon Brando in a tale against colonialism.
His 1980 movie, Ogro, was set in Spain in the years of dictator Francisco Franco.
When he wasn't directing, Pontecorvo worked behind the scenes, including serving as director of the Venice Film Festival from 1992-94.
***
I really like this film! Definitely one of my inspirations to get my game on Algeria done and Out There.
Battle of Algiers director dead at 86
Last Updated: Friday, October 13, 2006 | 10:45 AM ET
CBC Arts
Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo, who is best known for his 1966 film The Battle of Algiers, has died at age 86.
Pontecorvo died at the Polyclinic Gemelli hospital in Rome on Thursday night, a hospital spokesman said. No cause of death was given, but he had recently suffered a heart attack.
Although he directed fewer than 20 films, Pontecorvo was regarded as one of Italy's greatest directors.
The Battle of Algiers was a documentary-style black-and-white film that showed brutality on both sides in Algeria's war of independence from France.
It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for three Oscars.
The film still resonates today in the fighting against the insurgency in Iraq.
In 2003, the Pentagon screened the film to officers and civilian experts, promoting it with a leaflet that said: "How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas."
He was born Gilberto Pontecorvo on Nov. 19, 1919, in Pisa to a wealthy Jewish family.
In 1938, he moved to France to escape Italy's fascist racial laws. He became an anti-fascist activist in France, then returned to Milan and headed a Resistance brigade during the Second World War.
He studied chemistry and worked as a journalist before taking up directing, starting with documentaries.
Pontecorvo maintained strong political passions that were reflected in his movies.
His 1959 film Kapo told the story of a Jewish girl attempting to escape a concentration camp. Qeimada, made in 1969, starred Marlon Brando in a tale against colonialism.
His 1980 movie, Ogro, was set in Spain in the years of dictator Francisco Franco.
When he wasn't directing, Pontecorvo worked behind the scenes, including serving as director of the Venice Film Festival from 1992-94.
***
I really like this film! Definitely one of my inspirations to get my game on Algeria done and Out There.
