Vittorio Taviani: Biography

Italian filmmaker Vittorio Taviani and his younger brother Paolo (1931- ) might just as well be joined at the hip; it is all but impossible to write of one brother without mentioning the other. The son of an anti-fascist lawyer who suffered mightily during the Mussolini years, Vittorio attended the University of Pisa, studying law while brother Paolo majored in liberal arts. Once the Tavianis developed an interest in cinema (Vittorio was inspired by a screening of Rossellini's Paisa), they became professionally inseparable. In 1950, the brothers established a Pisa cinema society with their future collaborator Valentino Orsini. In concert with screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio and Paolo directed the 1954 short subject San Miniato, Iuglio 44 (1954), about Nazi atrocities in Italy. Together once more with Orsini, the brothers directed their first feature in 1962, A Man For Burning. The modus operandi of Vittorio and Paolo is to work on their screenplays together, then take turns directing individual scenes, never interfering with each other's creative choices. Recurring themes in their films include war, anti-fascism, traditionalism vs. modernism, marriage, divorce, and life among the working poor in the Southern Italian region of Tuscany. The Tavianis have won Cannes Film Festival awards for Padre Padrone (1977) and Night of the Shooting Stars (1983); the latter film was also honored with a citation from the National Society of Film Critics. In 1987, the brothers made their first American film, Good Morning Babylon (1987), a perceptive homage to Hollywood's salad days. On his own (surprise!), Vittorio Taviani played a supporting role in 1994's The True Life of Antonio H.. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide