Top 100 Italian Directors

1. Arturo Ambrosio

Producer | Amleto

Arturo Ambrosio was born on December 3, 1870 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was a producer and director, known for Hamlet (1914), The Newspaper (1914) and Cavalleria infernale (1906). He died on March 25, 1960 in Pancalieri, Piedmont, Italy.

2. Luigi Maggi

Director | Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei

Luigi Maggi was born on December 21, 1867 in Turin, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for The Last Days of Pompeii (1908), I conquistatori (1921) and Satana (1912). He died on August 22, 1946 in Turin, Italy.

3. Mario Caserini

Director | Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei

Mario Caserini was born on February 26, 1874 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for The Last Days of Pompeii (1913), Capitan Fracassa (1919) and Romeo and Juliet (1908). He was married to Maria Caserini. He died on November 17, 1920 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

4. Giovanni Pastrone

Director | Cabiria

Giovanni Pastrone was born on September 13, 1883 in Montechiaro d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Cabiria (1914), Julius Caesar (1909) and Il fuoco (la favilla - la vampa - la cenere) (1916). He died on June 27, 1959 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy.

5. Carmine Gallone

Director | Giuseppe Verdi

Carmine Gallone was born on September 10, 1885 in Taggia, Liguria, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Life of Giuseppe Verdi (1938), Odessa in fiamme (1942) and Scipione l'africano (1937). He was married to Soava Gallone. He died on March 12, 1973 in Frascati, Lazio, Italy.

6. Guido Brignone

Director | Passaporto rosso

Guido Brignone was born on December 6, 1886 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Passaporto rosso (1935), Loyalty of Love (1934) and Under the Southern Cross (1938). He was married to Lola Visconti-Brignone. He died on March 6, 1959 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

7. Augusto Genina

Director | Cielo sulla palude

Augusto Genina was born on January 28, 1892 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Cielo sulla palude (1949), Bengasi (1942) and L'assedio dell'Alcazar (1940). He was married to Carmen Boni. He died on September 18, 1957 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

8. Alessandro Blasetti

Director | Prima comunione

Alessandro Blasetti was born on July 3, 1900 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for First Communion (1950), La corona di ferro (1941) and Me, Me, Me... and the Others (1966). He was married to Maria Laura Quagliotti. He died on February 1, 1987 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

9. Luigi Zampa

Writer | Processo alla città

Abandoning earlier studies in architecture and engineering, Luigi Zampa learned screenwriting and directing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, between 1932 and 1937. He went on to make military training films for the Italian army during World War II, as well as collaborating on ...

10. Vittorio De Sica

Director | Ladri di biciclette

Vittorio De Sica grew up in Naples, and started out as an office clerk in order to raise money to support his poor family. He was increasingly drawn towards acting, and made his screen debut while still in his teens, joining a stage company in 1923. By the late 1920s he was a successful matinee ...

11. Giuseppe De Santis

Writer | Caccia tragica

Giuseppe De Santis was born on February 11, 1917 in Fondi, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Tragic Hunt (1947), Giorni d'amore (1954) and Bitter Rice (1949). He was married to Gordana Miletic. He died on May 16, 1997 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

12. Vittorio Cottafavi

Director | Traviata '53

The son of an army officer and landowner, Cottafavi (christened Benedetto Vittorio Emmanuele Secondo) was already endowed with a university education in law, philosophy and literature by the time he graduated from the famous Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome in 1938.

He began his ...

13. Luciano Emmer

Director | Domenica d'agosto

Luciano Emmer was born on January 19, 1918 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Sunday in August (1950), L'acqua... il fuoco (2003) and Il paradiso perduto (1949). He died on September 16, 2009 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

14. Alberto Lattuada

Writer | Guendalina

Alberto Lattuada was born on November 13, 1914 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Guendalina (1957), Flesh Will Surrender (1947) and Bambina (1974). He was married to Carla Del Poggio. He died on July 3, 2005 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

15. Renato Castellani

Writer | Romeo and Juliet

Renato Castellani was born on September 4, 1913 in Finale Ligure, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Romeo and Juliet (1954), Two Cents Worth of Hope (1952) and Sotto il sole di Roma (1948). He died on December 28, 1985 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

16. Steno

Writer | La polizia ringrazia

Steno was born on January 19, 1917 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Execution Squad (1972), Cops and Robbers (1951) and La patata bollente (1979). He died on March 12, 1988 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

17. Roberto Rossellini

Writer | Roma città aperta

The master filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, as one of the creators of neo-realism, is one of the most influential directors of all time. His neo-realist films influenced France's nouvelle vague movement in the 1950s and '60s that changed the face of international cinema. He also influenced American ...

18. Mario Camerini

Director | Il signor Max

Mario Camerini was born on February 6, 1895 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Il signor Max (1937), I'll Give a Million (1935) and I grandi magazzini (1939). He was married to Assia Noris. He died on February 4, 1981 in Gardone Riviera, Lombardy, Italy.

19. Giorgio Bianchi

Director | Cronaca nera

Giorgio Bianchi was born on February 18, 1904 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for Cronaca nera (1947), Il conte Max (1957) and La maestrina (1942). He died on February 9, 1967 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

20. Carlo Lizzani

Director | Banditi a Milano

Carlo Lizzani was born on April 3, 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Violent Four (1968), Chronicle of Poor Lovers (1954) and Celluloide (1996). He was married to Edith Bieber. He died on October 5, 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

21. Federico Fellini

Writer | Le notti di Cabiria

The women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII - inspired the dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and characters like Saraghina (the ...

22. Luchino Visconti

Writer | Il gattopardo

Born in his ancestral palazzo, situated in the same Milanese square as both the opera house La Scala and the Milan Cathedral, Luchino Visconti (1906 - 1976) was raised under the auspices of aristocratic privilege, theater and Catholicism. This triangulation of monuments would create an equally ...

23. Michelangelo Antonioni

Writer | Blow-Up

Together with Fellini, Bergman and Kurosawa, Michelangelo Antonioni is credited with defining the modern art film. And yet Antonioni's cinema is also recognized today for defying any easy categorization, with his films ultimately seeming to belong to their own distinctive genre. Indeed, the ...

24. Mauro Bolognini

Director | Madamigella di Maupin

Mauro Bolognini was born on February 28, 1922 in Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Madamigella di Maupin (1966), Mosca addio (1987) and Careless (1962). He died on May 14, 2001 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

25. Mario Bava

Cinematographer | Ecologia del delitto

Italian director Mario Bava was born on July 31, 1914 in the coastal northern Italian town of Sanremo. His father, Eugenio Bava (1886-1966), was a cinematographer in the early days of the Italian film industry. Bava was trained as a painter, and when he eventually followed his father into film ...

26. Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writer | Il Decameron

Pier Paolo Pasolini achieved fame and notoriety long before he entered the film industry. A published poet at 19, he had already written numerous novels and essays before his first screenplay in 1954. His first film Accattone (1961) was based on his own novel and its violent depiction of the life ...

27. Pietro Germi

Writer | Il ferroviere

Pietro Germi was born on September 14, 1914 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Railroad Man (1956), Divorce Italian Style (1961) and The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966). He was married to Olga D'Aiello and Anna Bancio. He died on December 5, 1974 in Rome, ...

28. Valerio Zurlini

Writer | Cronaca familiare

Valerio Zurlini was born on March 19, 1926. During his law studies in Rome, he started working in the theatre. In 1943, he joined the Italian resistance. Zurlini became a member of the Italian Communist Party. He filmed short documentaries in the immediate post-war period and in 1954 directed his ...

29. Dino Risi

Director | Il sorpasso

Dino Risi became a movie director by chance. In 1940 he met Alberto Lattuada at a friend's boutique. Lattuada told him they needed an assistant director for the movie Piccolo mondo antico (1941). Risi accepted just for fun, not for work. Later, he became a psychiatrist and wrote some articles for a...

30. Mario Monicelli

Writer | I compagni

Mario Monicelli was born on May 16, 1915 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Organizer (1963), Speriamo che sia femmina (1986) and Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). He was married to Chiara Rapaccini and Antonella Salerni. He died on November 29, 2010 in Rome, Lazio,...

31. Marco Bellocchio

Writer | Il traditore

Marco Bellocchio is one of the most consistent and most adventurous of today's Italian directors-an achievement all the more remarkable given that he made his feature debut almost fifty years ago. Over those years, he has amassed a body of films that encompasses a large number of original ...

32. Gillo Pontecorvo

Director | La battaglia di Algeri

Gillo Pontecorvo was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for his 1966 masterpiece, The Battle of Algiers, widely viewed as one of the finest films of its genre: realistic though fictionalized documentary. Its portrayal of the Algerian resistance during the Algerian War uses the neorealist style ...

33. Giulio Questi

Director | Giocare

Giulio Questi was born on March 18, 1924 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Giocare (1957), Amori pericolosi (1964) and Plucked (1968). He was married to Marilù Carteny. He died on December 3, 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

34. Elio Petri

Writer | Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto

Elio Petri was born on January 29, 1929 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) and His Days Are Numbered (1962). He was married to Paola Pegoraro. He died on November 10, 1982 in Rome, Lazio,...

35. Sergio Corbucci

Writer | Django

Sergio Corbucci was born on December 6, 1926, in Rome, Italy. He entered grade school with thoughts of becoming a businessman, but after earning a college degree in economics he took an abrupt detour into the world of cinema. Corbucci began his career as a film critic, first for the Italian film ...

36. Giuliano Montaldo

Writer | L'industriale

Born in 1930 in Genoa. Still a young student in 1950 when director Carlo Lizzani gave him a role in the film Achtung Banditi!. Following this experience he traveled to Rome where, after acting in film and theater, he became the assistant director to Lizzani, Gillo Pontecorvo, Sergio Leone, ...

37. Bernardo Bertolucci

Writer | Il conformista

Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director whose films were known for their colorful visual style, was born in Parma, Italy. He attended Rome University and became famous as a poet. He served as assistant director for Pier Paolo Pasolini in the film Accattone (1961) and directed The Grim Reaper (...

38. Luigi Comencini

Writer | Voltati Eugenio

Luigi Comencini was born on June 8, 1916 in Salò, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Voltati Eugenio (1980), Everybody Go Home! (1960) and Bread, Love and Dreams (1953). He was married to Giulia Grifeo. He died on April 6, 2007 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

39. Giancarlo Santi

Assistant_director | Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo

Giancarlo Santi was born on October 7, 1939 in Rome, Italy. He was an assistant director and director, known for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Quando c'era lui... caro lei! (1978). He died on February 22, 2021 in Rome, Italy.

40. Tonino Valerii

Director | Il mio nome è Nessuno

Tonino Valerii was born on May 20, 1934 in Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for My Name Is Nobody (1973), A Girl Called Jules (1970) and Day of Anger (1967). He was married to Rita. He died on October 13, 2016 in Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy.

41. Paolo Taviani

Director | La notte di San Lorenzo

Paolo Taviani studied liberal arts at the University of Pisa, becoming interested in the cinema after seeing Roberto Rossellini's Paisan (1946). After writing and directing short films and plays with his brother Vittorio, he made his first feature in 1962. The brothers have continued to work ...

42. Vittorio Taviani

Director | La notte di San Lorenzo

Vittorio Taviani studied law at the University of Pisa, becoming interested in the cinema after seeing Roberto Rossellini's Paisan (1946). After writing and directing short films and plays with his brother Paolo, he made his first feature in 1962. The brothers have continued to work together ever ...

43. Liliana Cavani

Director | L'ospite

Liliana Cavani was born on January 12, 1933 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for L'ospite (1971), Dove siete? Io sono qui (1993) and The Night Porter (1974).

44. Lina Wertmüller

Writer | Pasqualino Settebellezze

During the 1970s, Lina Wertmüller emblazoned her name into the pantheon of Italian cinema with a series of intensely polemical, deeply controversial and wonderfully entertaining films. Among the most politically outspoken and iconoclastic members of the second generation of postwar directors - the ...

45. Marco Ferreri

Writer | Storie di ordinaria follia

Marco Ferreri was born on May 11, 1928 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981), L'udienza (1972) and El cochecito (1960). He was married to Jacqueline Ferreri. He died on May 9, 1997 in Paris, France.

46. Ettore Scola

Writer | Una giornata particolare

Ettore Scola was born on May 10, 1931 in Trevico, Campania, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for A Special Day (1977), The Family (1987) and Passion of Love (1981). He was married to Gigliola. He died on January 19, 2016 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

47. Pupi Avati

Writer | Gli amici del bar Margherita

Pupi Avati was born on November 3, 1938 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for Gli amici del bar Margherita (2009), Giovanna's Father (2008) and The Story of Boys & Girls (1989). He has been married to Amelia Turri since 1964. They have three children.

48. Gianfranco Parolini

Writer | I fantastici 3 $upermen

Gianfranco Parolini was born on February 20, 1925 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Three Fantastic Supermen (1967), This Time I'll Make You Rich (1974) and The Secret of the Incas' Empire (1987). He died on April 26, 2018 in Rome, Italy.

49. Ermanno Olmi

Director | L'albero degli zoccoli

Ermanno Olmi was born on July 24, 1931 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978), The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988) and Il posto (1961). He was married to Loredana Detto. He died on May 5, 2018 in Asiago, Veneto, Italy.

50. Tony Brandt

Assistant_director | Apocalypse Now

Tony Brandt was born on June 13, 1930 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an assistant director and actor, known for Apocalypse Now (1979), The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). He died on July 25, 2009 in Padua, Veneto, Italy.

51. Franco Zeffirelli

Director | Romeo and Juliet

Franco Zeffirelli is an Italian director and producer of operas, films and television. He was also a senator from 1994 until 2001 for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party. Some of his operatic designs and productions have become worldwide classics.

He was known for several of the movies he ...

52. Francesco Rosi

Writer | Cadaveri eccellenti

His father was a shipowner. After school, Rosi initially began studying law, which he soon dropped out to work as a broadcast journalist and book illustrator in Naples. From 1944 to 1945 he worked for "Radio Napoli". In the immediate post-war years, Rosi moved to Rome, where he came into contact ...

53. Tinto Brass

Writer | La vacanza

Giovanni Brass was born on 26 March 1933 into the family of a famous artist, Italico Brass, who was his grandfather. Italico gave his grandson a nickname "Tintoretto," which Giovanni later adapted into his cinematic name, Tinto Brass.

Tinto inherited his grandfather's artistic skills, but he applied...

54. Pasquale Festa Campanile

Writer | Il gattopardo

Pasquale Festa Campanile was born on July 28, 1927 in Melfi, Basilicata, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Leopard (1963), Rocco and His Brothers (1960) and The Four Days of Naples (1962). He was married to Anna Salvatore. He died on February 25, 1986 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

55. Franco Castellano

Writer | Il bisbetico domato

Franco Castellano was born on June 20, 1925 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Taming of the Scoundrel (1980), The Twelve-Handed Men of Mars (1964) and Madly in Love (1981). He died on December 28, 1999 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

56. Giuseppe Moccia

Writer | Il bisbetico domato

Giuseppe Moccia was born on June 22, 1933 in Viterbo, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Taming of the Scoundrel (1980), The Twelve-Handed Men of Mars (1964) and Madly in Love (1981). He died on August 20, 2006 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

57. Ruggero Deodato

Director | Deathcember

Ruggero Deodato was born on May 7, 1939, in Potenza, Italy, and grew up outside Rome. One of his close friends at the time was Renzo Rossellini, the son of famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini. Knowing Ruggerio's love for the movies, Renzo persuaded him to work as a second unit director on ...

58. Lucio Fulci

Writer | Lo squartatore di New York

Lucio Fulci, born in Rome in 1927, remains as controversial in death as he was in life. A gifted craftsman with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of dark humor, Fulci achieved some measure of notoriety for his gore epics of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but respect was long in coming.

Abandoning ...

59. Marino Girolami

Director | Caccia al marito

Marino Girolami was born on February 1, 1914 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Caccia al marito (1960), Le tardone (1964) and Walter e i suoi cugini (1961). He died on February 20, 1994 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

60. Giuliano Carnimeo

Director | Simone e Matteo: Un gioco da ragazzi

Giuliano Carnimeo was born on July 4, 1932 in Bari, Puglia, Italy. He was a director and assistant director, known for Convoy Buddies (1975), The Exterminators of the Year 3000 (1983) and Find a Place to Die (1968). He died on September 10, 2016 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

61. Sergio Leone

Writer | Once Upon a Time in America

Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...

62. Rino Di Silvestro

Writer | Le deportate della sezione speciale SS

Rino Di Silvestro was an Italian writer/director who specialized in extremely raw, graphic and, in the opinion of many critics, offensive low-budget exploitation fare. He was born in 1932 and hailed from a family of Sicilian landowners. He established his own avant-garde theatre company and ...

63. Dario Argento

Writer | Profondo rosso

Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other ...

64. Giuseppe Tornatore

Director | La migliore offerta

Giuseppe Tornatore was born on May 27, 1956 in Bagheria, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Best Offer (2013), Cinema Paradiso (1988) and The Legend of 1900 (1998). He is married to Roberta Pacetti.

65. Mario Martone

Director | L'amore molesto

Mario Martone was born on November 20, 1959 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for L'amore molesto (1995), The King of Laughter (2021) and Capri-Revolution (2018). He has been married to Ippolita Di Majo since 2010. They have one child.

66. Gianni Amelio

Director | Il ladro di bambini

After school, Amelio studied philosophy. He graduated with a doctorate. Amelio developed a keen interest in film at a young age. In 1970 he began working as a cameraman for the Italian state television RAI. A little later, Amelio worked as an assistant director for RAI. In 1970 he directed his ...

67. Massimo Troisi

Actor | Il postino

His acting career started when he was 15 in a theatre (Centro Teatro Spazio). In 1969 he founded the group "I saraceni" (later renamed "La smorfia") with Enzo Decaro and Lello Arena. He became famous to the TV audience between 1976 and 1979 with two TV programs "Non Stop" and "Luna Park". First ...

68. Michele Soavi

Director | Dellamorte dellamore

Born in Milan, Italy in 1957, Michele Soavi's parents separated when he was little and he lived with his mother who remarried a painter. Interested in his stepfather's interest in painting, Soavi began an interest in creative arts in his school. During his teenage years, he decided that the cinema ...

69. Peter Del Monte

Writer | Compagna di viaggio

Peter Del Monte was born on July 29, 1943 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Traveling Companion (1996), Little Flames (1985) and Ballet (1989). He died on May 31, 2021 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

70. Roberto Benigni

Actor | La vita è bella

Roberto Benigni was born on October 27, 1952 in Manciano La Misericordia, Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Tiger and the Snow (2005) and Down by Law (1986). He has been married to Nicoletta Braschi since December 26, 1991.

71. Nanni Moretti

Producer | La stanza del figlio

Nanni Moretti was born on the 19th of August, 1953. He lives in Rome, where since he was a kid he devotes himself to his two passions: cinema and water-polo. In 1970 he also played in water-polo first division in Italy, and in the junior National team. In those years he was also very committed in ...

72. Sergio Castellitto

Actor | Paris, je t'aime

Sergio Castellitto was born in Rome in 1953. After graduating from the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art in 1978, he began his theatrical career in Italian public theater with "Shakespeare's Measure for Measure" at the Teatro di Roma and with roles in other plays such as "La Madre by ...

73. Yervant Gianikian

Director | Pays barbare

Yervant Gianikian was born in 1942 in Meran, Tyrol, Austria-Hungary [now Merano, Alto Adige, Italy]. He is a director and editor, known for Babaric Land (2013), From the Pole to the Equator (1987) and Oh! Man (2004).

74. Stefano Veneruso

Director | All the Invisible Children

Stefano Veneruso was mentored and inspired from childhood by his late uncle Massimo Troisi, renowned director, author, actor and producer better known internationally for producing, co-directing and starring in the Academy Award-winning film The Postman, (Il Postino). Working at Esterno ...

75. Gabriele Muccino

Director | Seven Pounds

Gabriele Muccino was born on May 20, 1967 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Seven Pounds (2008), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and The Last Kiss (2001). He has been married to Angelica Russo since December 22, 2012. They have one child. He was previously married to ...

76. Emanuele Crialese

Writer | Respiro

Although born in Rome in 1965, Emanuele Crialese has Sicilian roots, to which he pays tribute in film after film. In 1991 he leaves for the USA where he studies film direction at New York University. After making several shorts, he directs his first feature-length movie Once We Were Strangers (1997)...

77. Daniele Luchetti

Director | Il portaborse

Daniele Luchetti was born on July 26, 1960 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Yes Man (1991), Mio fratello è figlio unico (2007) and It's Happening Tomorrow (1988).

78. Matteo Garrone

Director | Dogman

Matteo Garrone was born in Rome in 1968. He is the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone, and a photographer. In 1996 he won the Sacher d'Oro, an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film Silhouette (1996), that became one of the three episodes of his first feature film Land in Between ...

79. Antonello Grimaldi

Director | Caos calmo

Antonello Grimaldi was born on August 14, 1955 in Sassari, Sardinia, Italy. He is a director and actor, known for Quiet Chaos (2008), Nulla ci può fermare (1989) and Juke box (1985).

80. Marco Bechis

Writer | La terra degli uomini rossi - Birdwatchers

The son of a Chilean woman of Swiss-French origins and an Italian father, he grew up in Sao Paolo and Buenos Aires. At the age of twenty he was expelled from Argentina for political reasons: he landed in Milan and there he lived throughout the 1980s, while also spending lots of time in New York, ...

An Italian-Argentinian director

81. Gianni Di Gregorio

Writer | Gomorra

Gianni Di Gregorio was born on February 19, 1949 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a writer and actor, known for Gomorrah (2008), Mid-August Lunch (2008) and Citizens of the World (2019).

82. Luca Guadagnino

Director | Call Me by Your Name

Luca Guadagnino was born on August 10, 1971 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and producer, known for Call Me by Your Name (2017), Suspiria (2018) and Bones and All (2022).

83. Paolo Sorrentino

Writer | È stata la mano di Dio

Director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino was born in Naples in 1970, and and became an orphan when he lost both of his parents at the age of 16. At the age of 25, after studying for a few years at the Faculty of Economics and Business in University of Naples Federico II, he decided to work in the...

84. Paolo Virzì

Writer | La prima cosa bella

Paolo Virzì was born on March 4, 1964 in Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for The First Beautiful Thing (2010), Tutta la vita davanti (2008) and Like Crazy (2016). He has been married to Micaela Ramazzotti since January 17, 2009. They have two children. He was previously ...

85. Roberto Andò

Director | Le confessioni

Roberto Andò was born on January 11, 1959 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Confessions (2016), Long Live Freedom (2013) and Strangeness (2022).

86. Francesco Munzi

Director | Anime nere

Francesco Munzi was born in 1969 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Black Souls (2014), Saimir (2004) and The Rest of the Night (2008).

87. Stefano Sollima

Director | Without Remorse

Stefano Sollima was born on May 4, 1966 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Without Remorse (2021), ZeroZeroZero (2019) and Gomorrah (2014).

88. Piero Messina

Director | L'attesa

Piero Messina was born on April 30, 1981 in Caltagirone, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for L'attesa (2015), Another End (2024) and This Must Be the Place (2011).

89. Laura Bispuri

Director | Figlia mia

Laura Bispuri is a director and writer, known for _Sworn Virgin (2015)_ and _Daughter of Mine (2018)_ both presented in Competition at the Berlinale, in 2015 and 2018. She was awarded with the David di Donatello in 2010 for Best Short Film for _Passing Time (2010)_ and with Nastro d'Argento in 2011...

90. Gianfranco Rosi

Director | Fuocoammare

Gianfranco Rosi was born on November 30, 1963 in Asmara, Eritrea. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Fire at Sea (2016), Notturno (2020) and Sacro GRA (2013).

91. Gennaro Nunziante

Writer | Quo vado?

Gennaro Nunziante is known for Quo vado? (2016), Belli ciao (2022) and Sole a catinelle (2013).

92. Fabio Grassadonia

Writer | Sicilian Ghost Story

Fabio Grassadonia is known for Sicilian Ghost Story (2017), Salvo (2013) and Rita (2009).

93. Antonio Piazza

Writer | Sicilian Ghost Story

Antonio Piazza is known for Sicilian Ghost Story (2017), Salvo (2013) and Rita (2009).

94. Alice Rohrwacher

Director | Lazzaro felice

Alice Rohrwacher was born on December 29, 1981 in Fiesole, Tuscany, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for Happy as Lazzaro (2018), La Chimera (2023) and The Wonders (2014).

95. Sara Colangelo

Director | The Kindergarten Teacher

Sara Colangelo is an award-winning writer and director. Her first film, the short documentary Halal Vivero, was a National Finalist at the 2006 Student Academy Awards, and her narrative short, Un Attimo di Respiro, screened at over fifteen national and international film festivals including Tribeca...

96. Uberto Pasolini

Producer | The Full Monty

Uberto Pasolini was born on May 1, 1957 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a producer and writer, known for The Full Monty (1997), Nowhere Special (2020) and Machan (2008). He was previously married to Rachel Portman.

97. Enrico Casarosa

Director | Luca

Enrico Casarosa was born on November 20, 1971 in Genoa, Italy. He is known for Luca (2021), The Good Dinosaur (2015) and Lightyear (2022).

98. Alex Camilleri

Editor | Luzzu

Alex Camilleri is known for Luzzu (2021), Elli and the Astronaut (2009) and 99 Homes (2014).

99. Jonas Carpignano

Writer | A Ciambra

Jonas Carpignano was born in 1984 and grew up between New York City and Rome. His first feature film Mediterranea debuted at the Cannes Film Festival -Semaine de la Critique in 2015 before receiving the award for the best directorial debut of 2015 by the National Board of Review and Gotham ...

100. Andrea Di Stefano

Writer | The Informer

Andrea Di Stefano was born on December 15, 1972 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for The Informer (2019), Life of Pi (2012) and Nine (2009). He is married to Anissa Bonnefont. They have two children.