Biographies: Gillo Pontecorvo - Writer

Biographies

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An Italian director, born to a wealthy Jewish family in the Italian city of Pisa. He was the fifth of eight children. He studied chemistry at the university before the outbreak of World War II and practiced tennis. At the beginning of the war, he immigrated to France, where he gave lessons in tennis, and there, he met exiled intellectuals. In 1942, he became a member of the Italian Communist Party and participated in the resistance against fascists. After the liberation of Italy, he became the director of a youth newspaper with socialist and communist tendencies. He returned to Paris as Italy's representative in the World Youth Federation. There, he made friends with a number of stars of art, literature, and philosophy, such as Sartre and Picasso. In 1946, he began his career in cinema as an assistant to a number of directors. He directed his first feature film La grande strada azzurra in 1957. In 1960, he directed the film Kapo. His film The Battle of Algiers (1966) was awarded the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Festival. He directed a number of documentaries. He died on October 12, 2006 in Rome.

• 22 September 2021
• Christina Aziz