Franco Piavoli - Special guest

In the 1970s, Franco Piavoli made some short films, among these Domenica sera (1962), Emigranti (1963), and Evasi (1964). In 1982 he made Il pianeta azzurro that won the Agis prize and the BCV prize for a young author at the 50th Venice Film Festival. Mentioned by the Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici. United Nations prize 1982. Henri Alekan prize for photography. Silver ribbon 1983 for best emerging director.

In 1984 he directed Puccini’s Suor Angelica at the Florentine festival Maggio Musicale, in 1985 Verdi’s La forza del destino, and in 1990 Bellini’s Norma at the Teatro Grande in Brescia.

In 1989 he made Nostos, il ritorno, a personal revisitation of the Ulysses myth, that was presented at the Festival di Locarno and at the Mill Valley Film Festival in San Francisco. Awarded the 1989 AIACE prize and the Moti Ibrahim prize in Djerba in 1990. In 1996 at the Venice Film Festival he screened Voices in Time (The Seasons of Life) for which he was awarded the FEDIC (Federazione italiana cineclub) prize for the work that best reflected the creative freedom and expressive liberty of the author. In 1997 he participated in the Festival of São Paulo in Brasil, the Festival of Annecy in France, the Würzburg Festival in Germany, the 20° Denver Film Festival and the Palm Springs Film Festival in the USA. He received the prize from the public at Filmtage in Gottingen in 1998.

In 2002 he made Al primo soffio di vento, portrait of a family on a summer afternoon. This film was chosen for competition in the Festival in Locarno, 2002. Subsequently he was invited to the 2003 Chicago Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival and awarded the first prize at the 10th Festival International de Cinema del Medi Ambient in Barcelona and the prize from the public at the Filmfestival in Freistadt, 2003. In 2004 at the Quirinale he was honored with the Vittorio De Sica Prize. In 2005 Piavoli participated in the Festivaletteratura in Mantua with Affettuosa presenza. In 2008 he was invited to Lincoln Center in New York with Il pianeta azzurro. A retrospective of his films was shown at the Anthology Film Archives, introduced by Godfrey Reggio.

In 2009 he participated in the Festival in Berlin with L’orto di Flora, his contribution to the feature-length Terra Madre by Ermanno Olmi.