
Marco Bellocchio
Biography
Marco Bellocchio (Italian: [ˈmarko belˈlɔkkjo]; born 9 November 1939; Bobbio) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Born in Bobbio, near Piacenza, Marco Bellocchio had a strict Catholic upbringing – his father was a lawyer, his mother a schoolteacher. He began studying philosophy in Milan but then decided to enter film school, making his first film, Fists in the Pocket, (I pugni in tasca, winner of the Silver Sail at the 1965 Festival del film Locarno), funded by family members and shot on family property, in 1965.
Bellocchio's films include China Is Near (1967), Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina (Slap the Monster on Page One) (1972), Nel Nome del Padre (In the name of the Father – a satire on a Catholic boarding school that shares affinities with Lindsay Anderson's If....) (1972), Victory March (1976), A Leap in the Dark (1980), Henry IV (1984), Devil in the Flesh (1986), and My Mother's Smile (2002), which told the story of a wealthy Italian artist, a 'default-Marxist and atheist', who suddenly discovers that the Vatican is proposing to make his detested mother a saint. In 1991 he won the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival for his film The Conviction. In 1995 he directed a documentary about the Red Brigades and the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, titled Broken Dreams. In 2003, he directed a feature film on the same theme, Good Morning, Night. In 2006 his film The Wedding Director was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. In 1999, he was awarded with an Honorable Prize for the contribution to cinema at the 21st Moscow International Film Festival. In 2009 he directed Vincere, which was in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. He finished Sorelle Mai, an experimental film that was shot over ten years with the students of six separate workshops playing themselves. He was awarded with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in September 2011. His 2012 film Dormant Beauty was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.[6] On 6 September 2012, Bellocchio condemned the Catholic Church's interference in politics after the premiere of his controversial film about a high-profile euthanasia case. The film approaches the topic of euthanasia and the difficulty with legislation on end of life in Italy, which has Vatican City within its borders. The subject is inspired by Eluana Englaro's case. Following the decision of the jury of the Venice Film Festival, which excluded the film from the Golden Lion, Bellocchio has expressed strong criticism against President Michael Mann.
Acting (35 movies)

Opera Prima
2021

Cinéma et Réalité
1967

Lo Spazio Inquieto
2022

Cinema Italiano: Moments of Truth
2014

Vacation in Val Trebbia
1980

The Seagull
1977

My Mother's Smile
2002

Slap the Monster on Page One
1972

Ennio
2022

Raffa
2023

Behind the Scenes: The Traitor
2022

Francis of Assisi
1966

Colpiti al cuore
2019

La mia casa e i miei coinquilini - Il lungo viaggio di Joyce Lussu
2016

Love and Anger
1969

Voi siete qui
2011

Planet Venus
1972

Franco Cristaldi e il suo cinema Paradiso
2009

Lino Micciché, mio padre - Una visione del mondo
2013

Same rage, same spring
2003

My Name Is Anna Magnani
1980

N.P. - The Secret
1972

I nostri trent'anni - Generazioni a confronto
2004

Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
2005

Fit to Be Untied
1975

Glauber, Claro
2020

Marcello, una vita dolce
2006

Behind Love and Anger
2005

Marx Can Wait
2021

What Do You Know About Me
2009

Journey into the Twilight
2021

Cesare Zavattini
2003

Volonté: The Man of a Thousand Faces
2024

Tutte le storie di Piera
2014

La nostra magnifica ossessione - Bernardo Bertolucci e la sua generazione
2025
Directing (56 movies)

Vincere
2009

Good Morning, Night
2003

The Wedding Director
2006

Devil in the Flesh
1986

Henry IV
1984

Victory March
1976

My Mother's Smile
2002

Fists in the Pocket
1965

In the Name of the Father
1971

Slap the Monster on Page One
1972

Love and Anger
1969

China Is Near
1967

Sorelle Mai
2011

A Leap in the Dark
1980

The Prince of Homburg
1997

Dormant Beauty
2012

If I May
2021

The Eyes, the Mouth
1982

The Conviction
1991

Esterno Notte (part I)
2022

Esterno Notte (part II)
2022

The Nanny
1999

The Witches' Sabbath
1988

Fit to Be Untied
1975

The Seagull
1977

Down With Uncle
1962

Blood of My Blood
2015

Celebrate Cinema 101
1996
Ginepro Became a Man
1962

The Butterfly's Dream
1994

Sweet Dreams
2016

Clowns
2016

Sorelle
2007

All for a Rose
2017

Farewell to the Past
2002

Vacation in Val Trebbia
1980
Rome, November 12, 1994
1995
The Spring of 2002 - Italy Protests, Italy Stops
2002
Broken Dreams: Reasoning and Delirium
1995
Culpability and Punishment
1961
Elena
1997
Nina
2000

The Man with the Flower in His Mouth
1993
Today is a Beautiful Day
2002
The Choir Master
2000

The Calabrian People Raised Their Heads
1969

Notes for a Movie About Uncle Vania
2002
Fresco
2000
A Thread of Passion
2000

The Cinema Machine
1979

Long Live the 1st Red and Proletarian May
1969

The Fight
2018

If I May - Chapter II
2024

The Traitor
2019

Marx Can Wait
2021

Kidnapped
2023