The film-maker, who won the Palme d’Or for 1977’s Padre Padrone, was a towering presence for more than three decades, creating politically engaged works with his brother Vittorio
The Italian film-maker Paolo Taviani, whose gritty biopic Padre Padrone won top prize at the Cannes film festival, has died aged 92, Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said on Thursday.
For more than three decades Taviani and his brother Vittorio formed one of cinema’s greatest directorial duos. “Paolo Taviani, a great maestro of Italian cinema, leaves us,” Gualtieri said on X. The brothers “directed unforgettable, profound, committed films which entered into the collective imagination and the history of cinema”, Gualtieri added.
Taviani died in a clinic in Rome after suffering from a short illness, according to media reports. His wife and two children were at his bedside, according to Anasa news agency, which said Taviani’s funeral would be on Monday.
Along with Vittorio, who died in 2018, the Tavianis made politically engaged films together for more than half a century.
