Giovanni (Gianni) Bongioanni (August 6, 1921 – January 21, 2018)[1] was an Italian film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, camera operator, editor, writer and occasional actor.
[3] In addition, Bongioanni was actively involved in the Italian TV and radio broadcasting industries, in which he worked for several years before making his first feature film, Tre per una rapina [it] (1964).
Bongioanni began attending the two inexpensive cinemas below his house as often as he could; during the following years, he developed a love and an appreciation for American directors and actors.
As a result, he became familiar with the work of the most important and influential directors of the time, including Charlie Chaplin, Frank Capra, Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch, William A. Wellman and Marcel Carné amongst others.
), in which he attacked the current state of Italian cinema, lambasting certain directors and actors who continued to create films in an antiquated style, despite the increasingly prevalent neo-realism of the period.
In 1952, Bongioanni joined the rising national TV and radio broadcasting company "RAI", becoming the technical manager of its Cinema Production Department under the direction of Sergio Pugliese.
[6] As a result, Bongioanni has been praised as a director who has tried to bring the painful, and often forgotten, truth to light..[7] These films marked him out as a keen observer of the harsh realities of Italian life.
Bongioanni created films in the style of documentaries, with a direct sound and spontaneous acting (often using amateurs taken from the street) which requires little or no time to set up.
He was also responsible for introducing talented new Italian actors such as Giuliana De Sio, Francesco Salvi, Maria Monti, Angiola Baggi and Carlotta Wittig to the film industry.