Mario Carbone (12 May 1924 – 18 May 2025) was an Italian director, cinematographer and photographer.

Life and career

Mario Carbone was born on 12 May 1924. He began his apprenticeship as a photographer in

San Sosti San Sosti ( Calabrian: ; from ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza, in Calabria, southern Italy. History A highly decorated bronze axe-head was discovered near San Sosti in 1846. This votive offering was later bought by the collector an ...

, and later moved 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 continued his photography work until 1955, when he relocated to

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, ...

. There, he started his cinematographic career as a director of photography and a filmmaker. In 1964, he won the

Nastro d'Argento The (plural: ''Nastri d'Argento''; English: Silver Ribbon) is an Italian film award, held since 1946 by the ''Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani'' (Italian National Union of Film Journalists). Awards are given annually in ...

(Best Short Film) with ''Stemmati di Calabria'', a documentary on the abandonment of feudal lands by the

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

n nobility. In 1967, he won the

Silver Lion The Silver Lion (, also known as Silver Lion for Best Direction) is an annual award presented for best directing achievements in a feature film in the official competition section of the Venice Film Festival since 1998. The prize has been awar ...

at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

for his work ''Firenze''. Throughout his long career, he collaborated as a photographer and director of photography with significant figures in Italian literature and cinema, such as

Carlo Levi Carlo Levi () (29 November 1902 – 4 January 1975) was an Italian painter, writer, activist, Independent Left (Italy), independent leftist politician, and doctor. He is best known for his book ''Christ Stopped at Eboli (novel), Cristo si è fe ...

Mario Soldati Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an Italian writer and film director. In 1954, he won the Strega Prize for ''Lettere da Capri.'' He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Italian actresses, s ...

Cesare Zavattini 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 near Reggio Emilia in northern Italy, o ...

, Cecilia Mangini, Luigi Di Gianni,

Giuseppe Ferrara Giuseppe Ferrara (15 July 1932 – 25 June 2016) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.

, and Libero Bizzarri. Carbone died on 18 May 2025, at the age of 101.

Partial filmography

Direction

* ''I misteri di Roma'' (1963) * ''Stemmati di Calabria'' (1963) - short film * ''Ti spacco il muso, bimba'' (1982)

Direction of photography

* ''Donne in Carnia'', directed by Axel Rupp (1959) * ''Gli stregoni'', directed by Raffaele Andreassi (1961) * ''De Chirico metafisico'', directed by Raffaele Andreassi (1962) * ''I ragazzi che si amano'', directed by Alberto Caldana (1963) * ''Italiani come noi'', directed by Pasquale Prunas (1963) * ''Ecco il finimondo'', directed by Paolo Nuzzi (1964) * ''L'amore breve'', directed by

Romano Scavolini Romano Scavolini (born 18 June 1940) is an Italians, Italian film director and the younger brother of screenwriter Sauro Scavolini. Career He has been directing since the 1960s. Most of his films are shot independently and with an experimental ...

(1969)

References

1924 births 2025 deaths Italian film directors Italian cinematographers Italian men centenarians {{Italy-film-bio-stub