Giuliano Montaldo

Giuliano Montaldo is a renown Italian cinema, documentary and opera director, born 22 February 1930 in Genoa, Italy. In 1960 he made his debut as a director with "Pigeon Shoot", on competition at the Venice Film Festival. With his second movie, "Una Bella Grinta", he won the special prize of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965. After having filmed for Paramount the heist movie "Grand Slam" (1967) and the gangster film "Machine Gun McCain" (1969) in the US, Montaldo returned to Italy to direct "Gott Mit Uns", "Sacco E Vanzetti" (in competition at Cannes Film Festival, where it won Best Actor award) and "Giordano Bruno". These films were widely appreciated at various film festivals around the world. In 1980 the director engaged in the production of a television series about the exploration of "Marco Polo", an international co-production with RAI, BBC and NBC. It was filmed in Italy, the Middle East, Tibet, Mongolia and China. It was shown in 76 nations, and won 4 “Emmy” Awards.

In 2010 Giuliano Montaldo received the Sofia International Film Festival’s lifetime achievement prize, the Sofia Award.