Gianfranco Rosi

For the Italian boxer, see Gianfranco Rosi (boxer).
Gianfranco Rosi
Rosi at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival
Born (1963-11-30) 30 November 1963
Asmara, Ethiopia
CitizenshipItalian
American
Alma materNew York University
OccupationDocumentary filmmaker
Years active1993–present
Children1

Gianfranco Rosi (Italian pronunciation: [dʒaɱˈfraŋko ˈrɔːzi]; born 30 November 1963) is an Italian-American filmmaker.[1][2] Most known for his documentaries, including 2013's Sacro GRA, for which he won the Golden Lion, and 2016's Fire at Sea, for which won the Golden Bear and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Rosi is the only documentary filmmaker to win two highest awards at the three major European film festivals (Venice, Berlin and Cannes), and is the one of the few director to do it in the 21st century alongside Michael Haneke, Ang Lee, Ken Loach and Jafar Panahi.

Early life

Gianfranco Rosi was born in 1963 in Asmara.[2][3] His Italian father worked there as foreign section manager for a bank owned by the IRI.[3] Because of the threat posed by the ongoing Eritrean War of Independence, his parents brought him back in Italy when he was 11.[2][4][5] He grew up in Italy and Turkey.[1][2][3] At age 19, Rosi dropped out from University of Pisa, where he was studying medicine, to attend the New York University Film School.[3] He stayed in the United States, eventually gaining dual citizenship.[1][2]

Career

After graduation, Rosi found his first feature project after being told that Miami, where he shot his student film, reminded of Benares, the holy city in India where Hindus go to die.[2] He spent five years there documenting life around the banks of the Ganges,[3][6][7] resulting in the anthropological documentary Boatman (1993), which was presented at various international film festivals, including Sundance, Locarno, Toronto and Amsterdam.

His first feature film, Below Sea Level (2008), was shot over the course of four years among the residents of the unincorporated community of Slab City, California.[3][6] It won the Best Documentary Award in the Orizzonti section of the 65th Venice International Film Festival.[8]

Rosi at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

Having befriended author Charles Bowden during the production of Below Sea Level, Rosi was offered to make a film from his 2009 Harper's Magazine article The Sicario and directed El Sicario, Room 164 (2010), a face-to-face conversation with a Juárez Cartel sicario claiming over 200 killings.[6][5][9] Once again, it premiered in competition in the Orizzonti sidebar at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.[8]

Rosi then made his first Italian feature, Sacro GRA (2013), for which he lived for almost three years in a trailer near the Grande Raccordo Anulare, a circular ring road motorway encompassing the center of Rome, documenting the stories of people around it.[3][10][11] The film was the first documentary film to ever be entered in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival, and ended up winning the Golden Lion at the 70th Venice International Film Festival, its highest award, becoming both the first documentary in Venice's history and the first Italian film in 15 years to receive the award.[4][11] The unexpected win raised Rosi's profile considerably, although inside Italy he had to contend with some prominent voices opposing the idea of awarding a non-fiction work with the Golden Lion, such as journalist Curzio Maltese and filmmaker Pupi Avati.[4][3]

Following his Venice win, the Istituto Luce approached Rosi to direct a short film about the 2013 migrant shipwreck at the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, but him soon scrapped the project for a full-length documentary on Italy's societal response of the ongoing 2015 European migrant crisis.[1][12] The project eventually became Fire at Sea (2016), filmed for almost a year in Lampedusa, focusing on the crisis as seen through the people of the island, such as 12-years old Samuele and migrants' doctor Pietro Bartolo.[1][2][12][13] It was entered in the main competition of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, winning once again a festival's highest award, this time the Golden Bear,[1] and receiving widespread international critical acclaim upon its release.[12][13][14] The film was the first documentary submitted by Italy for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film category, although it didn't make the final shortlist, it was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards.[5][12] It also won the European Film Award for Best Documentary.[15]

Following the motifs of the 2015 European migrant crisis, he shot his Notturno (2020) over the course of three years, following closely the population who lived in war zones, between the middle eastern countries of Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan and Lebanon.[16] The film marked Rosi's return to the main competition of the 77th Venice International Film Festival[17] and was selected once again as Italy's submission for the Academy Awards, without making the final shortlist.

In 2022, Rosi directed his first archival footage documentary feature film, In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis (2022), following the 37 international visits in 53 countries of Pope Francis. The film premiered out of competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, to critical acclaim.

Personal life

Rosi has a daughter, Emma (born 1999 or 2000),[18] from a previous marriage ended in the late 2000s.[3][4]

Filmography

Documentaries

Year English Title Original Title Cinematographer Producer Sound technician
1993 Boatman Yes Yes Yes[6]
2008 Below Sea Level Yes Yes Yes[6]
2010 El Sicario, Room 164 Yes Yes —
2013 Sacro GRA Yes — Yes
2016 Fire at Sea Fuocoammare Yes Yes Yes
2020 Notturno Yes Yes Yes
2022 In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis In viaggio Yes Yes —
2025 Below the Clouds Sotto le nuvole Yes Yes —

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Ref(s)
2009 European Film Awards Best Documentary Below Sea Level Nominated
2013 Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion Sacro GRA Won [4]
2014 European Film Awards Best Documentary Nominated [19]
2016 Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Fire at Sea Won [20]
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Won
David di Donatello Awards Best Film Nominated [21]
Best Director Nominated
European Film Awards Best Documentary Won [15]
People's Choice Award for Best European Film Nominated
2017 Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature Nominated [22]
César Awards Best Documentary Film Nominated [23]
2020 Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion Notturno Nominated [17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Boille, Francesco (23 February 2016). "Fuocoammare raccontato da Gianfranco Rosi" [Fire at Sea as told by Gianfranco Rosi]. Internazionale (in Italian). Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Brocardo, Enrica (15 February 2016). "Gianfranco Rosi: "L'esodo dei migranti? Una vera mattanza"" [Gianfranco Rosi: «The exodus of immigrants? A real massacre»]. Vanity Fair Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pagani, Malcom (23 September 2013). "Il regista di Sacro GRA risponde ai critici: "Curzio Maltese? Non l'avevo mai letto. Pupi Avati è come quelli che dicono che il jazz è 'musica da negri'."" [Sacro GRA director confronts critics: “Curzio Maltese? Never read him. Pupi Avati is like those who say jazz is just ‘blacks' music’.”]. dagospia.com (in Italian). Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Magliaro, Alessandra (8 September 2013). "Venezia: Rosi, Leone inaspettato" [Venice: Rosi, unexpected Lion]. ANSA (in Italian). Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Ugolini, Chiara (27 February 2017). "Gianfranco Rosi non ce l'ha fatta: "Fuocoammare è già un successo"" [Gianfranco Rosi didn't make it: "Fire at Sea is already a success"]. La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Gianfranco Rosi interview about Below Sea Level". kinodromo.org (in Italian). 16 July 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Boatman". Time Out. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Orizzonti verticali" [Vertical horizons]. Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). 28 July 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  9. ^ Hubert, Craig (29 December 2011). "Gianfranco Rosi and Charles Bowden on Murder in Mexico". Interview Magazine. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Nicolò Bassetti, il viaggio continua: "Così andrà avanti l'idea Sacro GRA"" [Nicolò Bassetti, the journey never ends: "The Sacro GRA project will continue"]. La Repubblica (in Italian). 28 September 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  11. ^ a b Pasetti, Anna Maria (5 September 2013). "Venezia 2013, Rosi racconta l'umanità intorno al Grande Raccordo Anulare" [Venice 2013, Rosi documents humanity around the Grande Raccordo Anulare]. Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  12. ^ a b c d Potenza, Alessandra (24 January 2017). "How Italy's Gianfranco Rosi made the stunning Oscar-nominated migrant doc Fire at Sea". The Verge. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  13. ^ a b Talu, Yonca (24 October 2016). "Interview: Gianfranco Rosi". filmcomment.com. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  14. ^ Thompson, Anne (21 December 2016). "Gianfranco Rosi Interview: The 'Fire at Sea' Director Discusses His Oscar-Shortlisted Documentary". IndieWire. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  15. ^ a b Brown, Mark (11 December 2016). "Toni Erdmann sweeps the board at European film awards 2016". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  16. ^ "Notturno di Rosi in concorso a Toronto" [Rosi's Notturno in competition in Toronto] (in Italian). ANSA. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  17. ^ a b Sharf, Zack (28 July 2020). "Venice Film Festival 2020 Full Lineup: Luca Guadagnino, Chloe Zhao, Gia Coppola, and More". IndieWire. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  18. ^ Calvini, Angela (23 February 2016). "Rosi: "A Lampedusa e Lesbo un Nobel condiviso"". Avvenire (in Italian). Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  19. ^ "Nominations 2014". europeanfilmawards.eu. European Film Academy. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  20. ^ "Prizes of the International Jury". berlinale.de. Berlin Film Festival. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  21. ^ "Sorpresa David: pieno di nomination Jeeg Robot e Non essere cattivo" [Surprise at the Davids: Jeeg Robot and Don't Be Bad sweep the nominations]. La Repubblica (in Italian). 22 March 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  22. ^ "The 89th Academy Awards (2017) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  23. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (24 January 2017). "César Awards Nominations: Verhoeven's 'Elle', Ozon's 'Frantz' In The Lead". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
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