Elio Petri (January 29, 1929 - November 10, 1982) was an Academy Award-nominated Italian political filmmaker.
Elio Petri was born in Rome on January 29, 1923 into a modest family, his father being a coppersmith. As the only son, he grew up in the working-class area of the city before attending school where he was noted for his intelligence.
After being expelled for political reasons from San Giuseppe di Merode, a school run by a priest on the Pia...
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Elio Petri (January 29, 1929 - November 10, 1982) was an Academy Award-nominated Italian political filmmaker.
Elio Petri was born in Rome on January 29, 1923 into a modest family, his father being a coppersmith. As the only son, he grew up in the working-class area of the city before attending school where he was noted for his intelligence.
After being expelled for political reasons from San Giuseppe di Merode, a school run by a priest on the Piazza di Spagna, he embarked on a career combining political militancy, film-journalism and the coordination of cultural activities for the youth organization of the Italian Communist Party. He wrote for L'Unità and for Gioventù nuova as well as for Città aperta. He left the party in 1956 after the Hungarian rising.
A friend of Gianni Puccini, he was introduced through him to Giuseppe De Santis and became Assistant to the director of Bitter Rice. He collaborated, without being credited for it, on Rome 11 O'Clock (1952), one of the least known...
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