IFFI 50: Homage to Bernardo Bertolucci

Bertolucci, who was born in 1941, passed away at last year at the age of 77. He has been acclaimed for two of his most important films--Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor. The former was embroiled in controversy for its explicit sexual content but also won a nomination for Marlon Brando at the Academy Awards, while the latter film, which was an adaptation of the autobiography of China’s last imperial ruler, Pu Yi, won 9 Oscars. Bertolucci became the first and only Italian to win the Oscar for best director. Earlier, in 1970, he received his first Academy Award nomination for the adapted screenplay of The Conformist, based on a novel by Alberto Moravia.

He started his film career as an assistant to Pier Paolo Pasolini and made his debut film, The Grim Reaper, in 1962.

One of the last films that he made, and which made ripples again, was The Dreamers which dealt with the coming of age and exploring the sexuality of three teenagers, two of whom are siblings. The film starred the now famous Hollywood actress Eva Green, along with Michael Pitt and Louis Garrel. The Dreamers will be showcased in the 50th IFFI as a mark of tribute and respect to the great Italian film-maker. It is set in Paris and meant to be an ode to the Paris of 1968, and the movies he imbibed then at its legendary Cinémathèque Française.

Bertolucci’s last film was made in 2012 and called Me and You. He was then in a wheelchair, and this was his first Italian-language film in 23 years.