Vittorio De Seta

Vittorio De Seta (15 October 1923 – 28 November 2011) was an Italian cinema director and screenwriter, considered one of Italian cinema's great imaginative realists of the 1960s.

Biography
He was born in Palermo, Sicily, to a wealthy family, and studied architecture in Rome, before deciding to become a director.

De Seta made ten short documentaries between 1954 and 1959, before directing his first feature-length film, Banditi a Orgosolo (Bandits of Orgosolo).

His early documentaries focus on the everyday life of many of Sicily's poorest workers, and are notable for their lack of voice-over narration, quiet mood, and striking color.

In 2005 the rediscovery of Vittorio De Seta's work was a highlight of Tribeca Film Festival and Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, where Détour De Seta, a documentary on the Italian director was presented.

Filmography

 * Banditi a Orgosolo (1961)
 * Un uomo a metà (1966)
 * L'invitata (1969)
 * Diario di un maestro (1972) TV mini-series
 * Un anno a Pietralata (1974) TV movie
 * In Calabria (1993)
 * Lettere dal Sahara (2006)
 * articolo 23 (2008) Short

Documentaries

 * Vinni lu tempu de li pisci spata, 11', 1954
 * Isole di fuoco, 11', 1954
 * Sulfarara, 10', 1955
 * Pasqua in Sicilia, 11', 1955
 * Contadini del mare, 10', 1955
 * Parabola d'oro, 10', 1955
 * Pescherecci, 11', 1958
 * Pastori di Orgosolo, 11', 1958
 * Un giorno in Barbagia, 14', 1958
 * I dimenticati, 20', 1959
 * In Calabria, 81', 1993
 * Dedicato ad Antonino Uccello, 30', 2003

Awards

 * 1957. David di Donatello: Targa d'argento.
 * 1961. Best First Work in the Venice Film Festival with Banditi a Orgosolo.
 * 1962. Silver Ribbon of the Best Cinematography B/W at the Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani (Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists) with Banditi a Orgosolo.