Marco Bellocchio (Italian pronunciation:[ˈmarkobelˈlɔkkjo]; born 9 November 1939) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Life and career
Born in Bobbio, near Piacenza, Marco Bellocchio had a strict Catholic upbringing – his father was a lawyer, his mother a schoolteacher.[1] He began studying philosophy in Milan but then decided to enter film school, first at the Dramatic Art Academy of Milan, then the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome,[2] and later at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. His first film, Fists in the Pocket (I pugni in tasca, winner of the Silver Sail at the 1965 Festival del film Locarno), was funded by family members and shot on family property in 1965.
His 2012 film Dormant Beauty was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.[7] On 6 September 2012, Bellocchio condemned the Catholic Church's interference in politics after the premiere of his controversial film about a high-profile euthanasia case. The film approaches the topic of euthanasia and the difficulty with legislation on end of life in Italy, which has Vatican City within its borders. The subject is inspired by Eluana Englaro's case. Following the decision of the jury of the Venice Film Festival, which excluded the film from the Golden Lion, Bellocchio has expressed strong criticism against President Michael Mann.[8]
Political activity
Bellocchio made a big impact on radical Italian cinema in the mid-1960s, and was a friend of Pasolini. In 1968, he joined the Union of Italian Communists (Marxist-Leninist), a Maoist group, and began to make politically militant cinema. However, in a 2002 interview, he talked about divided state of the Italian left, politics' lacking from the aim of radical change, and how such a radical change not being appealing for him anymore:[9]
"I can talk about my personal ideas but Marxism has little to do with it now. Today politics means administration, either a good or a bad administration, and nobody is talking any more in terms of changing things. The left in Italy is now very divided, as if it doesn't have the strength to form an opposition. No party is now proposing a radical change of anything, and radical change is no longer very interesting to me as an artist."
In another interview conducted in London Film Festival of 2006, he insisted still being a leftist, but argued for a need to reinvent the term:[10]
In Italy politics is pretty mediocre and depressing. It is not the same situation as in the 60s when you had the idea to change the society through politics that doesn't exist anymore. It is not necessarily to make Italy into socialist republic but in any case to change a few things radically. Because in Italy like the rest of Europe politics now is more based on running a public administration and so there is not a big difference between left and right. [...] I am still on the left but socialism and the left should be reinvented. It is difficult. Basically old values are invalid anymore and we have to find new ones."
He is the third son in his family along with his twin brother Camillo, who committed suicide in 1969 leaving an lasting impact on Bellocchio's life. He has three children including a son Pier Giorgio Bellocchio with actress Gisella Burinato and a daughter Elena with his current partner Francesca Calvelli who is also the editor for his films.
