Award to Gabriele Salvatores

Gabriele Salvatores was born in Naples in 1950. He later moved to Milan where he graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art of the Piccolo Teatro. In 1972, he was among the founders of the Teatro dell’Elfo, which, in just a few years, became a point of reference for an entire generation of young spectators. Between the 1970s and 1980s, Salvatores staged 21 plays for Elfo, some of which turned out to be great successes. In 1981, he made a rock musical based on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that reached an all-time record attendance of 200,000. In 1982, this show became Salvatores’ first feature film, marking his gradual shift from theatrical directing to the making of other projects, including video clips and commercials. In 1986, Gabriele Salvatores, Maurizio Totti and Diego Abatantuono founded Colorado Film, a Milan-based production company that was immediately successful with the making of Gabriele Salvatores’ second film, “Kamikazen – Last Night in Milan”. In 1989, his films “Marrakech Express” and “Turné” were released, followed, in 1991, by “Mediterraneo”, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (1992). In 1992, Salvatores directed “Puerto Escondido”, the biggest hit of the 1992/1993 film season. The following year saw the release of “Sud”. This was followed by two experimental and daring films, “Nirvana”, a box-office hit in 1996, and “Teeth” presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2000. In 2001, he directed “Amnésia” and the following year “I’m Not Scared”, screened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival and later selected as an Italian Oscar nominee in 2004. “I’m Not Scared” was a great success among critics and audiences and was sold in 32 countries. In 2004, he directed “Quo Vadis Baby?” based on the first novel of the Colorado Noir publishing series. This was followed by “As God Commands”, based on the homonymous novel by Niccolò Ammaniti, winner of the 2007 Strega Prize. In 2009, Gabriele Salvatores filmed “Happy Family” in Milan, a comedy based on the homonymous play by Alessandro Genovesi, in theaters in March 2010. In 2010, Gabriele Salvatores was part of the 67th Venice Film Festival Jury chaired by Quentin Tarantino. Also in Venice, he presented the documentary “1960”, made with archival materials from the Teche Rai, which was broadcast in October 2010 on Rai Tre. In 2013, Gabriele Salvatores made “Deadly Code”, a film based on the homonymous novel by Nicolai Lilin, starring John Malkovich. In 2014, he curated the anthology film “Italy in a Day”, screened out of competition at the 71st Venice Film Festival, and “The Invisible Boy”, the first chapter of the saga directed by Gabriele Salvatores whose sequel, “The Invisible Boy – Second Generation” was released in January 2018. In 2017, he directed “La gazza ladra” at La Scala in Milan, under the musical direction of conductor Riccardo Chailly. In 2019, he directed “Tutto il mio folle amore” starring Claudio Santamaria, Valeria Golino, Diego Abatantuono and Giulio Pranno. In 2020, he directed the anthology film “Fuori era primavera” and in 2021 he made “Comedians” based on the homonymous play by Trevor Griffiths. In 2023, he made “The Return of Casanova”, loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler’s homonymous novel.