Luigi Batzella (San Sperate, 1924 – San Sperate, 2008) also known as Paolo Solvay was an Italian film director, editor, screenwriter and actor. He made numerous low-budget genre films.

Life and career

Luigi Batzella was born in San Sperate,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

in 1924. After what film historian and critic Roberto Curti described as "a nondescript career as an actor," Batzella began his career as a director in 1966 with the war film '' Tre franchi die pietà''. After directing a few low budget

westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

, Batzella directed his first horror film '' The Devil's Wedding Night'' which was directed with an uncredited

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. Following the release of his next horror film '' Nude for Satan'' in 1978, Batzella directed two

Nazisploitation Nazi exploitation (also Nazisploitation) is a subgenre of exploitation film and sexploitation film that involves Nazism, Nazis committing sex crimes, often as camp or prison overseers during World War II. Most follow the Women in prison film, wo ...

films ''Kaput Lager – Gli ultimi giorni delle SS'' and '' La Bestia in calore'' for which he was credited as Ivan Kathansky. His next feature would be the sex comedy '' Probito erotico'' starring Ajita Wilson where he is credited as Paul Selvin. His final official film credit was for the film '' Strategia per una missione di morte'' where he is credited as Kathansky in some prints and as A.M. Frank in the French version. Curti has stated that some sources claim Batzella was involved with the

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production '' Mie ju que que''. Batzella died in San Sperate in 2008 at the age of 84.

Partial filmography

Footnotes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Batzella, Luigi Italian film directors 20th-century Italian screenwriters People from the Metropolitan City of Cagliari 1924 births 2008 deaths Italian horror film directors Spaghetti Western directors Italian male screenwriters 20th-century Italian male writers