Paolo Sorrentino

Paolo Sorrentino
Sorrentino in 2008
Born	31 May 1970 Naples, Italy
Alma mater	University of Naples Federico II
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1994–present

Paolo Sorrentino (Italian: [ˈpaːolo sorrenˈtiːno]; born 31 May 1970) is an Italian film director and screenwriter.

Life and career

Sorrentino was born in Naples. His first film as screenwriter, The Dust of Naples, was released in 1998. He also began directing short movies, including L'amore non ha confini in 1998 and La notte lunga in 2001. His feature-length debut was One Man Up (L'uomo in più), for which he was awarded the Nastro D'Argento prize.

He achieved international recognition in 2004 for his thriller, The Consequences of Love (Le conseguenze dell'amore). The film, which explores the mindset of a lonely businessman being used as a pawn by the Mafia, won many awards and was nominated for the Palme D'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

Sorrentino's next feature, The Family Friend (L'amico di famiglia), was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May^[2] and the London Film Festival in October 2006. It tells the story of a malicious septuagenarian loan-shark who develops a fixation with the beautiful daughter of one of his customers. Sorrentino made his acting debut with a cameo appearance in Nanni Moretti's film The Caiman (Il caimano), which was also shown at the 2006 London Film Festival.

Sorrentino's following film, Il Divo, is a dramatised biopic of Giulio Andreotti, the controversial Italian politician. The feature, which won the Prix du Jury at Cannes Film Festival, sees Sorrentino reunited with The Consequences of Love star, Toni Servillo, who plays the part of Andreotti.

In 2009, Sorrentino wrote the screenplay for a film version of Niccolò Ammaniti's Ti prendo e ti porto via (Steal You Away).^[3]

This Must Be the Place marked the English-language feature debut of the Italian filmmaker. The plot centres around a middle-aged wealthy rock star, played by two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn, who becomes bored in his retirement and takes on the quest of finding the guard of the German camp where his father was imprisoned, who now lives in hiding in the U.S.. The film was co-written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello,^[4] and premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.^[5]

His 2013 film The Great Beauty won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in the 2014 Academy Awards.^[6] It won BAFTA award for Best Film Not in the English Language in the 67th British Academy Film Awards. It also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.^[7] The film also received several accolades at the 2013 European Film Awards, including "Best Film" and "Best Director" for Sorrentino.^[8]

Youth (2015) is Sorrentino's second English-language film, and features Michael Caine as a retired Orchestra conductor.^[9] It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.^[10]

Collaborators

Sorrentino likes to work with the same team of filmmakers, often engaging cast and crew from his previous films. Regular members of the 'team' include:

• Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano, who have produced all six of Sorrentino's feature-length films
• Toni Servillo, who has appeared in all of his feature-length films except The Family Friend, This Must Be the Place and Youth
• Luca Bigazzi, who was the cinematographer for all of Sorrentino's feature-length films except One Man Up and Sabato, domenica e lunedì
• Giogiò Franchini, who was the editor for One Man Up, The Consequences of Love, Sabato, domenica e lunedì and The Family Friend
• Cristiano Travaglioli, who was the editor for Il Divo, The Slow Game, This Must Be the Place, Allo specchio and The Great Beauty.
• Lino Fiorito, who was the set designer for all Sorrentino's feature-length films until Il Divo.

Collaborators	L'amore non ha confini	One Man Up	La notte lunga	The Consequences of Love	Sabato, domenica e lunedì	The Family Friend	Il Divo	The Slow Game	This Must Be the Place	Allo specchio	The Great Beauty
Francesca Cima (Producer)
Nicola Giuliano (Producer)
Toni Servillo (Actor)
Umberto Contarello (Co-writer)
Luca Bigazzi (Cinematographer)
Pasquale Catalano (Composer)
Giogiò Franchini (Editor)
Cristiano Travaglioli (Editor)
Emanuele Cecere (Sound)
Daghi Rondanini (Sound)
Lino Fiorito (Production designer)
Daniela Ciancio (Costume designer)
Anna Maria Sambucco (Casting director)

Filmography

Director and screenwriter

Feature films

• One Man Up (L'uomo in più, 2001)
• The Consequences of Love (Le conseguenze dell'amore, 2004)
• Sabato, domenica e lunedì (2004) - TV movie
• The Family Friend (L'amico di famiglia, 2006)
• Il Divo (2008)
• This Must Be the Place (2011)
• The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza, 2013)
• Le voci di dentro (2014) - TV movie
• Youth (La giovinezza, 2015)

Shorts

• Un paradiso (1994) - co-directed with Stefano Russo
• L'amore non ha confini (1998)
• La notte lunga (2001)
• La primavera del 2002. L'Italia protesta, l'Italia si ferma (2002) - collective documentary
• Quando le cose vanno male (2004) - segment of the collective movie Giovani talenti italiani
• The Slow Game (La partita lenta, 2009)
• L'assegnazione delle tende (2009) - segment of the collective movie L'Aquila 2009. Cinque registi tra le macerie
• La principessa di Napoli (2010) - segment of the collective movie Napoli 24
• In the Mirror (Allo specchio, 2011) - commercial short
• Grumari (2014) - segment of the collective film Rio, Eu Te Amo

Screenwriter

• The Dust of Naples (1998)
• La squadra (2000) - TV series

Novel

• Everybody's Right (Hanno tutti ragione, Europa Editions, 2011)

References

1. "Festival de Cannes: The Consequences of Love". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
2. "Festival de Cannes: The Family Friend". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
3. Coscia, Biagio."Il ritorno di Sorrentino alla sceneggiatura", corriere.it, January 30, 2009
4. Fleming, Michael (May 17, 2009). "Sorrentino putting Penn in his 'Place'". Variety. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
5. "Festival de Cannes: Official Selection". Cannes. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
6. Tiziano Peccia, "Critica e critiche alla Grande Bellezza", O Olho da História, numero 22 (April 2016)
7. "2013 Official Selection". Cannes. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
8. "Winners 2013". European Film Awards. European Film Academy. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
9. Child, Ben (13 May 2014). "Sorrentino's The Early Years stars Michael Caine as conductor compelled to perform for the Queen". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
10. "2015 Official Selection". Cannes. Retrieved 16 April 2015.

External links

• Paolo Sorrentino at the Internet Movie Database
• Paolo Sorrentino at the TCM Movie Database
• "The slow game" at PerFiducia