Gabriele Salvatores (born 30 July 1950) is an Italian

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning film director and screenwriter.

Biography

Born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directed several avant-garde pieces until 1989. In that year, he directed his third feature film, '' Marrakech Express'', which was followed in 1990 by '' Turné''. Both films shared a group of actor-friends, including Diego Abatantuono and Fabrizio Bentivoglio, who will be present in many of his later movies. ''Turné'' was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. In 1991, Salvatores received international praise for ''

Mediterraneo ''Mediterraneo'' is a 1991 Italian war comedy-drama film directed by Gabriele Salvatores and written by Enzo Monteleone. The film is set during World War II and concerns a group of Italian soldiers who become stranded on a Greek island in the ...

'', which won an Academy Award as best foreign film. It also won three

David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (The Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award cat ...

, the most important award for Italian cinema, and a Silver Ribbon. In 1992, he released '' Puerto Escondido'', from the eponymous novel by Pino Cacucci, in which Abatantuono and Bentivoglio were joined by another standard actor for Salvatores, Claudio Bisio. The following year he directed '' Sud'', featuring Silvio Orlando, an attempt to denounce the political and social situation of the

Mezzogiorno Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

of Italy seen from the point of view of the unemployed and those at the margins of society. The main themes of Salvatores' screenplays are escape from a reality that cannot be accepted or understood, nostalgia for friends, and voyages that never end. A new experimental period, however, started in 1997 with ''

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colomb ...

'', a science fiction/

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and ...

attempt which received mixed reviews. This was followed by the surreal ''

Denti '' Denti'' (''Teeth'') is a 2000 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Gabriele Salvatores. It is based on the novel with the same name written by Domenico Starnone. It entered the competition at the 57th Venice International Film Festival. Pl ...

'' (''Teeth'', 2000), and '' Amnèsia'' (2002). Both featured Sergio Rubini. A good success was '' I'm Not Scared'' of 2003, from the

Niccolò Ammaniti Niccolò Ammaniti () is an Italian writer, winner of the Premio Strega in 2007 for '' As God Commands'' (also published under the title ''The Crossroads''). He became noted in 2001 with the publication of '' I'm Not Scared'' (''Io non ho paura'' ...

novel. In 2005 he directed the noir '' Quo Vadis, Baby?''. His 2008 film ''

As God Commands ''As God Commands'' ( it, Come Dio сomanda) is a 2008 Italian drama film directed by Gabriele Salvatores, based on novel of the same name by Niccolò Ammaniti. It was entered into the 31st Moscow International Film Festival. Cast * Filippo ...

'' was entered into the

31st Moscow International Film Festival The 31st Moscow International Film Festival was held from 19 to 28 June 2009. The Golden George was awarded to the Russian film '' Pete on the Way to Heaven'' directed by Nikolai Dostal. Jury * Pavel Lungin (Russia – President of the Jury) * ...

Filmography

*'' Sogno di una notte d'estate'' (1983) *'' Kamikazen - Ultima notte a Milano'' (1987) *'' Marrakech Express'' (1989) *'' On Tour'' (''Turné'', 1990) *''

'' (1991) *'' Puerto Escondido'' (1992) *'' Sud'' (1993) *''

'' (1997) *''

'' (2000) *'' Amnèsia'' (2002) *'' I'm Not Scared'' (''Io non ho paura'', 2003) *'' Quo Vadis, Baby?'' (2005) *''

'' (''Come Dio comanda'', 2008) *'' Happy Family'' (2010) *'' Siberian Education'' (''Educazione siberiana'', 2012) *'' Italy in a Day'' (2014) *''

The Invisible Boy ''The Invisible Boy'' (aka ''S.O.S Spaceship'') is a 1957 black and white American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, directed by Herman Hoffman, and starring Richard Eyer and Philip Abbott. It is the s ...

'' (''Il ragazzo invisibile'', 2014) *'' The Invisible Boy: Second Generation'' (2018) *'' Volare'' (2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salvatores, Gabriele 1950 births Italian film directors Living people Film people from Naples Nastro d'Argento winners Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners