Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Happy 90th Birthday Guilio Questi


Giulio Questi was born on March 18, 1924 in Bergano, Lombardy Italy. After writing short stories for magazines Giulio entered the world of cinema, shooting documentaries, with Valerio Zurlini and assistant director Francesco Rosi, and as an actor and screenwriter in “La dolce vita” of Federico Fellini.
 
His directing debuted came in 1961, directing an episode of the filmLe italiane e l'amore”. In 1962 he co-directed the movie “Universo di notte”, then in 1963 Questi directed an episode of “Nudi per vivere”, co-directed by Elio Petri and Giuliano Montaldo , and signed with the collective pseudonym Elio Montesti. The film was immediately seized and would never be shown again. In 1964 he helped turn out another episodic film, “Amori pericolosi”, co-directed with Charles Lizzani and Alfredo Giannetti.
 
In 1967, he finally directs a movie alone “Se sei vivo spara” (“Django Kill”), a spaghetti western, with violent scenes, such as scalping an Indian and disemboweled horses, and an unconventional history. The director used the western genre to film the violence and massacres he viewed during his military service in the Italian Resistance. The film was confiscated, and was re-edited and then widely republished. In 1975, with the title Oro Hondo it was re-released with the reintegration of some sequences, and other small cuts.
 
In 1968 he directs “La morte ha fatto l'uovo”, a giallo set on a chicken farm. Even here there are shocking scenes, like a chicken with no legs, and a critique of consumerism.
 
In 1972 he directed his last movie for the big screen, “Arcana”, the story set in Milan, told with magical and surreal situations, including the levitation of a donkey and frogs that come out of your mouth. The film found little distribution in Italy and nothing abroad. After this film Questi withdraws from films and works in television.
 
From 2003 to 2007 he released digitally seven short films, released in 2008 in a double DVD produced by the label RHV (Ripley's Home Video) with the title By Giulio Questi. They are visionary and highly experimental short films, made ​​autonomously by him in his own home, with himself as the only versatile actor.
 
Today we celebrate Giulio Questi’s 90th birthday.

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