Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said on Thursday that Italian filmmaker Paolo Taviani, whose gritty portrait “Padre Padrone” won the top award at the Cannes Film Festival, has away at the age of 92.
Taviani and his brother Vittorio were one of the best directing teams in movie history for over thirty years.
“We lose Paolo Taviani, a great Italian cinema maestro,” Gualtieri posted on X, the old Twitter platform.
The two brothers “directed unforgettable, profound, committed films which entered into the collective imagination and the history of cinema” , stated Gualtieri.
According to media sources, Taviani passed away at a Rome clinic following a brief illness. Taviani’s funeral was scheduled for Monday, as reported by the ANSA news agency, with his wife and two kids present at his bedside.
Together, Paolo and Vittorio, who passed away in 2018, produced politically charged movies for more than 50 years. The Sardinian film “Padre Padrone” took home the Palme d’Or award at the 1977 Cannes film festival.
The movie is based on the autobiographical book by Gavino Ledda, which tells the story of a young shepherd who flees his father’s oppressive rule.
Paolo Taviani was described to AFP by former Cannes president Gilles Jacob as “one half of an enchanting duo“. Paolo Taviani made his own film debut in 2018 following the passing of his brother.
Based on a concept the brothers came up with jointly, “Leonora Addio” examines death and the legacy of creative endeavors. It screened at the Berlinale film festival in 2022.
The brothers’ early interest in social concerns was sparked by their father, an anti-fascist lawyer, and they translated this interest onto the screen with works that are renowned for their unique blend of lyricism, psychological analysis, and history.
Taviani was born in San Miniato, Tuscany, in 1931. The governor of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani, stated that his passing “leaves an unfillable void not only in the world of cinema, but in the hearts of all of us who shared his origins, but also his love for this land”.