Massimo Cirri is a psychologist and a journalist. He worked in Italy’s public mental health services for 25 years. After presenting at Radio Popolare, he then became the creator and voice of Caterpillar on RAI’s Radio 2. His work for the theatre, written with Lella Costa, includes: A colloquio. Tutte le mattine al Centro di salute mentale (2009); Il tempo senza lavoro (2013); and Un’altra parte del mondo (2016) published by Feltrinelli.
Olivier Assayas, the French director, screenwriter and film critic, began his career alongside his father, a noted screenwriter who used the penname Jacques Rémy, and also worked as a critic for Cahiers du Cinéma. He made his directorial debut in 1986 with Disorder, set among the youth bands in Paris: the themes of generational conflict and teenage alienation recur in his later films.
Marco Bellocchio is a director, screenwriter and producer. After his studies at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, he debuted behind the camera in 1965 at the young age of 26 with Fists in the Pocket, presented at the Locarno Festival. He won the Jury Prize at the 1967 Venice Film Festival for China is Near. In 1969 he directed the segment Discutiamo, discutiamo for the film Love and Anger, which also featured work by Bertolucci, Lizzani, Pasolini and Godard.
Miloš Forman studied Cinematography in Prague. Films from his early career include A Blonde in Love (1965), which won him the nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. After the Prague Spring and the Soviet invasion, Forman moved to the United States in 1968 where he filmed the satire Taking off in 1971. Success came in 1975 with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which won five Oscars, including Best Director. He continued the subject of social protest with Hair (1979) and Ragtime (1981).
