A director and scriptwriter, who in her films undertook the political topics in a revolutionary way. Her debut, “Francis of Assisi,” was an expression of her fascination with Rossellini. The films which will be shown during Two Riversides include: “The Night Porter” (Charlotte Rampling, Dirk Bogarde) and “The Skin” (Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Burt Lancaster).

Scandalist, prompter, radical feminist, iconoclast – is one of them most uncompromising artists in history of Italian cinema. To quote Stach Szabłowski, her film are “a dangerous mix of a subversive politics, cruelty, sex and amoral provocations. Cavani is fascinated with evil and perversion and it is difficult to rule whether she is more interested in condemn, or to spy on dark sides of human nature.”

Born to a working-class family, she graduated in Classics at Bologna University. In 1960 she enrolled at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Experimental Cinematography Centre) where she obtained her diploma with the short films “Incontro notturno” (1961) and “L’evento” (1962). She directed various interesting documentaries for the Italian TV service, from “Storia del III Reich” (1962-63) to “La donna nella Resistenza” (1965). She made her debut in full-length feature films in 1966 with “Francis of Assisi” (Francesco d’Assisi), made in a period of political unrest, it was to become a kind of manifesto of dissenting Catholicism
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Her next film, “Galileo” (1968), tackled the difficult relationship between intellectuals and power, while the intense “The Cannibals” (1969) proposes a reflection on the crimes committed by the authorities, taking its inspiration from Sophocles in “Antigone”.

1974 she turned out her masterpiece, “The Night Porter”, an open-minded incursion into Nazism, examining the ambiguous bond between a Jewish girl and her former gaoler. The theme of Nazism and sadomasochism returns in her later films “Beyond Good and Evil” analyzing the relationship between Nietzsche and Lou Andreas Salomé, and “The Berlin Affair” about the love affair of two women during II World War. With her movie “The Skin” (1981) Cavani, an intriguing interpretation of Malaparte’s novel, is one of her most significant achievements, compared to Paolo Pasolini’s famous “Salo”.

At the end of the eighties Liliana Cavani returns to the biography of St. Francis, giving the main part to Mickey Rourke. “Francis” had been appreciated by the critics, and the director was nominated during the Cannes Film Festival in 1989. Cavani’s last cinema movie was a successful adaptation of Patricii Highsmith novel “Ripley’s Game” (2002) with John Malkovith as a famous identity robber.

Małgorzata Łyszczarz

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Liliana Cavani (1933) Italian director and screenwriter. She studied linguistic and classical philology in Bologna. 1961 Calvani graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Her firs feature film was “History of third Reich” – a monumental, four hour document, which was an analysis of dark phenomenon of Nazism. Her most appreciated movies are “The Night Porter” (1974), “Beyond Good and Evil” (1977), “La Pelle” (1981) and “The Berlin Affair” (1985). Later, busy with directing in theaters she used to make fewer movies; nevertheless in 1989 she came back with “Francesco”, which gave her Golden Palm nomination. 2002 Calvani directed “Ripley’s Game” with John Malkovitch.