Just watched an interesting little film called Tre per una rapina, and was doing a bit of research into the director, Gianni Bongioanni, which I thought I’d share…
Gianni Bongioanni joined RAI as a young man in 1952, working as a general organiser for the film industry, and in the following years made his debut as director, making numerous documentaries between 1956 and 1971 (Filo d’erba, La svolta pericolosa, Fine di una solitudine, La madre di Torino, Dedicato a un bambino), which marked him out as a keen observer of the harsh realities of Italian life (and helped to introduced a kind of neo-realistic approach on the small screen). After these valuable directors, he returned to fiction with a series of titles that are considered among the best of Italian TV history: Una donna (from the novel by Sibilla Aleramo), Mia figlia (about mental illness) and Follia amore mio. He was also instrumental in developing the careers of actors and actresses who would go on to find fame elsewhere (Giuliana De Sio, Francesco Salvi, Maria Monti, Angiola Baggi, Carlotta Witti). He experimented with commercial filmmaking on one occassion, with Tre per una rapina, a tight story in the noir style which was made made with pace and told the tragic story of a young Italian immigrant in Germany. It was a good film, that’s now unfortunately forgotten.
In 2008, he published a book called Professione regista, detailing his life growing up in Turin and his experiences in the world of Cinecitta. He occassionally acted in his own films, as well as writing and directing, and also has a small part in Paolo Cavara’s The Wild Eye (L’occhio selvaggio, 67)