Cesare Zavattini (20 September 1902 – 13 October 1989) was an Italian screenwriter and one of the first theorists and proponents of the Neorealist movement in Italian cinema.

Biography

Born in

Luzzara Luzzara ( Guastallese: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Reggio Emilia, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is located at the northern end of the province, on the right bank of the river Po. Luzzara is the birthplace of the composer Maurizio Cazza ...

near

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

in northern Italy, on 20 September 1902, Zavattini studied law at the University of

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

, but devoted himself to writing. He started his career in '' Gazzetta di Parma''. In 1930 he relocated to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, and worked for the book and magazine publisher Angelo Rizzoli. After Rizzoli began producing films in 1934, Zavattini received his first screenplay and story credits in 1936. At the same time he was writing the plot for the comic strip ''

Saturn against the Earth Rebo is an Italian comics character, created for the story ''Saturno contro la Terra'' (''Saturn against the Earth'') by Cesare Zavattini (plot), Federico Pedrocchi (script) and Giovanni Scolari (art) in 1936. He is the dictator of Saturn and wa ...

'' with Federico Pedrocchi (script) and Giovanni Scolari (art) for ''I tre porcellini'' (1936–1937) and ''

Topolino ''Topolino'' (from the Italian language, Italian name for Mickey Mouse) is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932 as a comics magazine. Since 2013, it has ...

'' (1937–1946). In 1935, he met

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Widely considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, four of the fil ...

, beginning a partnership that produced some twenty films, including such masterpieces of

Italian neorealism Italian neorealism (), also known as the Golden Age of Italian Cinema, was a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They p ...

as '' Sciuscià'' (1946), '' Ladri di biciclette'' (1948), '' Miracolo a Milano'' (1951), and '' Umberto D.'' (1952). In 1952, Zavattini gave an interview to The Italian Film Magazine 2, republished in English as "Some Ideas on the Cinema". The thirteen points Zavattini outlined are widely regarded as his manifesto to Italian neorealism. In his only experience in Hollywood, Zavattini wrote the screenplay for '' The Children of Sanchez'' (1978) based on Oscar Lewis's book of the same title, a classic study of a Mexican family. At the 11th Moscow International Film Festival in 1979, he was awarded the Honorable Prize for the contribution to cinema. In 1983 he was a member of the jury at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival. Zavattini died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on 13 October 1989.Ugo Pirro, ''Soltanto un nome nei titoli di testa'', Einaudi, Turin, 1998, p. 30.

Directors

Among the many celebrated directors of Italian and international cinema Zavattini worked with in his more than 80 films are: *

, *

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...

, *

Hall Bartlett Hall Bartlett (November 27, 1922 – September 8, 1993) was an American film producer, director, and screenwriter, and a pioneer of independent filmmaking. Early life Hall Bartlett was born in Kansas City, Missouri, he graduated from Yale Unive ...

, *

Alessandro Blasetti Alessandro Blasetti (3 July 1900 – 1 February 1987) was an Italian film director and screenwriter who influenced Italian neorealism with the film ''Four Steps in the Clouds''. Blasetti was one of the leading figures in Italian cinema during the ...

, *

Mauro Bolognini Mauro Bolognini (28 June 1922 – 14 May 2001) was an Italian film and stage director. Early years Bolognini was born in Pistoia, in the Tuscany region of Italy. After earning a master's degree in architecture at the University of Florence, Bol ...

, *

Mario Camerini Mario Camerini (6 February 1895 – 4 February 1981) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Camerini began his career in the film industry in 1920, working for his cousin the director Augusto Genina. Camerini went on to direct his own fi ...

, *

René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. He is known for directing the films ''The Battle of the Rails'' (1946), ''Forbidden Games'' (1952), ''Gervaise (film), Gervaise'' (1956), ''Purple No ...

, *

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

, *

Pietro Germi Pietro Germi (; 14 September 1914 – 5 December 1974) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor, noted for his development of the Italian neorealism, neorealist and genres. His 1961 film ''Divorce Italian Style'' earned him a Ac ...

, * Alberto Lattuada, *

Mario Monicelli Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (; 16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, one of the masters of the ''commedia all'italiana'' ("Italian-style comedy"). He was nominated six times for an Academy Awards, Os ...

, *

Elio Petri Eraclio Petri (29 January 1929 – 10 November 1982), commonly known as Elio Petri, was an Italian film and theatre director, screenwriter and film critic. The Museum of Modern Art described him as "one of the preeminent political and social ...

, *

Dino Risi Dino Risi (23 December 1916 – 7 June 2008) was an Italian film director. With Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Nanni Loy, and Ettore Scola, he was one of the masters of ''commedia all'italiana''. Biography Risi was born in Milan. He had an ...

, *

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...

, * Mario Soldati *

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani Paolo Taviani (; 8 November 1931 – 29 February 2024) and Vittorio Taviani (; 20 September 1929 – 15 April 2018), collectively referred to as the Taviani brothers, were Italian film directors and screenwriters who collaborated on numerous fi ...

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, cinematic neorealism, but later ...

. Also, In the short story "La Santa", by

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winner

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

a character is named after Zavattini. In the story, the character is a teacher of cinema.

Selected filmography

* '' I'll Give a Million'' (1936) * '' The Dance of Time'' (1936) * '' Saint John, the Beheaded'' (1940) * '' A Woman Has Fallen'' (1941) * '' Don Cesare di Bazan'' (1942) * '' Before the Postman'' (1942) * '' Fourth Page'' (1942) * '' The Children Are Watching Us'' (1943) * '' Piruetas Juveniles / Romanzo a passo di danza'' (1943) * '' The Gates of Heaven'' (1945) * '' Rome, Free City'' (1946) * '' Biraghin'' (1946) * '' Un giorno nella vita'' (1946) * '' The Testimony'' (1946) * '' Sciuscià'' (1946) * '' The Unknown Man of San Marino'' (1946) * '' Crime News'' (1947) * '' The Great Dawn'' (1947) * '' Sperduti nel buio'' (1947) * '' Ladri di biciclette'' (1948) * '' Twenty Years'' (1949) * '' Miracolo a Milano'' (1951) * '' Mamma Mia, What an Impression!'' (1951) * '' Umberto D.'' (1952) * '' Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'' (1954) * ''L'oro di Napoli'' (" The Gold of Naples", 1954) * ''La Ciociara'' (" Two Women", 1960) * ''I sequestrati di Altona'' (" The Condemned of Altona", 1962) * ''L'isola di Arturo'' (" Arturo's Island", 1962) * ''Ieri, oggi e domani'' (" Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", 1963) * '' Un monde nouveau'' (1966) * '' Caprice Italian Style'' (1968) * ''I girasoli'' ("

Sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the pr ...

", 1970) * ''Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini'' (" The Garden of the Finzi-Continis", 1970) * ''Una breve vacanza'' (" A Brief Vacation", 1973) * ''

Lo chiameremo Andrea ''Lo chiameremo Andrea'' (also known as ''We'll Call Him Andrew'') is a 1972 Italian comedy film directed by Vittorio De Sica. Plot The story is of Nino Manfredi as Paolo Antonazzi and Mariangela Melato as Maria Antonazzi, teachers at the s ...

'' (1975)

Bibliography

* Mino Argentieri, ''Neorealismo ecc. / Cesare Zavattini'', Milano : Bompiani, 1979. * Guglielmo Moneti, ''Lessico zavattiniano : parole e idee su cinema e dintorni'', Venezia, Marsilio, 1992. * Félix Monguilot Benzal, ''Piruetas juveniles: génesis, desarrollo y fortuna de la película olvidada de Cesare Zavattini en España'', Actas del XIII Congreso de la AEHC, Vía Láctea Editorial, Perillo, 2011, pp. 381–390. * Cesare Zavattini, ''Parliamo tanto di me'', Milano, Bompiani, 1977. * Cesare Zavattini, 'Some Ideas on the Cinema,' Sight and Sound 23:2 (October–December 1953),64-9. Edited from a recorded interview published in La revista del cinema italiano 2 (December 1952). Translated by Pier Luigi Lanza

References

External links

* retrieved 15 October 2006
Cesare Zavattini – Official website
, retrieved 15 October 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zavattini, Cesare 1902 births 1989 deaths Italian atheists University of Parma alumni 20th-century Italian screenwriters Italian male screenwriters People from the Province of Reggio Emilia 20th-century Italian male writers Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipients Italian neorealism