Paolo Taviani (1931-2024)
The Italian director Paolo Taviani passed away on the 29th of February. It marks an end to a long cinematic journey which begins back in the 1950's with his life long collaborator and brother Vittorio Taviani. Films such as I sovversivi [The Subversives, 1961], Sotto il segno dello scorpione [Under the Sign of Scorpio, 1968], Padre Padrone (1977), La notte di San Lorenzo [The Night of the Shooting Stars, 1982], Cesare deve morire [Caesar Must Die, 2012], impregnated by political, philosophical but also esthetic reflexions have not only reminded us that cinema can be a form of justice, but also a poem.
“Seeing these images gave us a deeper understanding of the reality we had experienced. We said to ourselves that if cinema had the power to reveal our own truth to ourselves, then we had to make films. It’s not a formula, we decided at that precise moment to make cinema.” – Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani