ERMANNO OLMI

(24 July 1931 - 5 May 2018)

The screenwriter and director Ermanno Olmi, who has died at the age of 86, was one of Italy’s great masters of the screen, a social commentator of immense power. Influenced by his country’s neo-realism movement of the 1940s, he created some of the most memorable and humane films ever made. He often cast non-professional actors and filmed in authentic locations, using long takes to produce his own kind of realism. He made many documentaries until his first major feature Il Posto (1961). Then, alongside more documentaries and television work, came The Engagement, A Man Named John, One Fine Day, Long Live the Lady!, The Legend of the Holy Drinker, The Profession of Arms and several others not always seen in the UK. His biggest success was The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) which won him the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Olmi, a true artist, received the Honorary Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2008. He made his last film, Vedete, sono uno di voi, in 2017. He was married to Loredano Detto (she was in Il Posto) and they had three children.

MICHAEL DARVELL