Carmelo Bene

Born in 1937, Carmelo Bene enrolled in the National Academy of Dramatic Art in 1957, which he left a year later. He first acted on the stage in Albert Camus’s Caligula in Rome in 1959. He began his film work in the 60s as an actor in Pasolini’s ‘dipus Rex . In 1969, he made Our Lady of the Turks , which was screened at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Several of his later films were also selected for the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs , among them Capricci (1969) and Don Giovanni (1970). In 1974, he began to immerse himself in his experimental theater work, with its blend of music and poetry. He died in Rome in 2002.