By José Alberto Hermosillo
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| Bernardo Bertolucci, Roosevelt Hotel. Photo José A. Hermosillo ©2018 Festival in LA |
Academy Award-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci died in his house in Rome this Monday, November 26th, 2018, a victim of cancer at the age of 77.
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| Bernardo Bertolucci and Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy. |
Named one of our time’s most influential film directors, Bertolucci began his career as an assistant director to another of the greatest Italian directors, Pier Paolo Pasolini, on the film “Accattone” in 1961.
His directorial debut was the critically acclaimed “La Commare Secca.” At 22, the Italian director entered the international arena with his elegant style of filmmaking in the film “Before the Revolution.” A movie that granted global outreach.
In 1970, the Italian auteur began his long collaboration with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro on the visually arresting “Il conformista/The Conformist.” Together they made “The Last Tango in Paris,” “1900,” and many more.
With “The Last Emperor,” Bertolucci won two Oscars, one for Best Director and another for Best Screenplay Adaptation. The stylish period film, shot in China, won nine statuettes, including Best Picture, in 1987.
In 2011, he was awarded an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In France, he was nominated for the César Award for Best Director for “The Last Tango in Paris” and won for “The Last Emperor.”
In his home country, Bertolucci was nominated for the David di Donatello Award for his last narrative feature, “Io e te/Me and you,” in 2013. In 2003, he made “Dreamers,” in which he continued to address his favorite subjects: “sex and politics.”
“Besieged,” “Stealing Beauty,” and “Little Buddha” were three relevant works he made in Hollywood during the 1990s.
In 2013, he was honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The AFI FEST (American Film Institute) presented a new print of “The Last Emperor” in 3 the same year. He introduced the film at the legendary Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Before the event, we had a very brief conversation. A fabulous memory that lasts a lifetime for a movie fan like me.
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| Bernardo Bertolucci, film critic, José Alberto Hermosillo. ©2018 Festival in LA |
Rest in Peace, Maestro Bernardo Bertolucci. Your departure leaves a profound emptiness in our hearts. Yet your enormous body of work is an invaluable treasure for future generations.
FILMOGRAPHY:
2012 – Me and You
2003 – The Dreamers
2001 – The Triumph of Love
1998 – Besieged
1996 – Stealing Beauty
1994 – Little Buddha
1990 – The Sheltering Sky
1987 – The Last Emperor
1981 – Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man
1979 – Luna
1976 – 1900
1972 – The Last Tango in Paris
1970 – The Conformist
1970 – The Spider’s Stratagem
1968 – Once Upon a Time in the West
(writer)
1964 – Before the Revolution
1962 – La Commare Secca
1962 – Accattone (assistant director).
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