Berlinale to host Francesco Rosi tribute

The 65th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) is to pay homage to Francesco Rosi, one of one of Italy’s most-celebrated and influential filmmakers from the 1950s to the 1990s.

The director and screenwriter, who inspiring the likes of Francis Coppola and Martin Scorsese with his Italian post-war neo-realist style, passed away on Saturday (Jan 10) at the age of 92.

In homage, the Berlinale has added Many Wars Ago (Uomini Contro) to the upcoming programme, Rosi’s 1970 anti-war drama set on the mountainous Austrian-Italian front during the First World War.

Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick said: “The loss of Francesco Rosi is the loss of an outstanding filmmaker. With their explosive power, Rosi’s films are still persuasive today. His works are classics of politically engaged cinema.”

Rosi’s films often examined corruption and criminality and some of his best-known films told the stories of real events and real people in order to highlight the links between politics, crime and working class society in Italy.

Salvatore Giuliano, which won a Silver Bear at Berlin in 1962, depicted the famous 1940s Sicilian outlaw of the same name.

His film Hands Over the City won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1963; The Mattei Affair won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 1972; and Rosi’s film of Carmen was nominated for a BAFTA in 1986.

His last film was 1997’s The Truce, which was based on Holocaust survivor Primo Levi’s memoir and starred John Turturro.

In 2012, he was awarded an honorary Golden Lion for lifetime achievement for leaving “an indelible mark on the history of Italian film-making”.