Valerio Zurlini Biography
Valerio Zurlini was an Italian director and screenwriter, born in Bologna on 19 March 1926 and died in Verona on 26 October 1982. After attending high school at the Massimiliano Massimo Institute in Rome, he enlisted in the Italian Liberation Corps during the Second World War. After graduating in law, he took art history courses and worked as an assistant director at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. Between 1949 and 1952, he made short films demonstrating a remarkable spirit of observation and collaborating with the composer Mario Nascimbene. In 1952, Lux Film entrusted him with the direction of his first feature film, The Girls of San Frediano, based on Vasco Pratolini and released in December 1954.
After five years, Zurlini filmed “Violent Summer” (1959) and “The Girl with the Suitcase” (1961), distinguishing himself as a director attentive to the psychological depth of the characters. In 1962, Zurlini presented the film “Cronaca famiglia” at the Venice Film Festival, once again based on Pratolini and winner of the Golden Lion ex aequo with “Ivan's Childhood” by Andrej Tarkovsky. Subsequently, he directed “Le soldatesse” (1965 ), based on the events of a group of women serving in the Italian army during World War II.
In 1972, Zurlini created "The First Night of Quiet", an ambitious project that he had already had in mind a few years earlier, but which he had had to postpone. The film told the story of a family located within the events of colonial Italy. Despite initial criticism from critics, the film met with public approval, becoming the director's greatest commercial success and one of the most viewed films of the year. Zurlini ended his career as a director with the film adaptation of Dino Buzzati's The Desert of the Tartars in 1976. During his last years, he dedicated himself to teaching at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and directing the dubbing of foreign films.
