Valerio Zurlini

Valerio Zurlini was born in Bologna on 19 Mars 1926. After taking a degree in law, he turned to film. From 1948 to 1953, he made some forty documentary shorts subjects. Pietro Germi introduced him to the heads of Lux-Film, who assigned him to direct a feature, The Girls of San Frediano, an adaptation of a novel by Vasco Pratolini. In 1960, he directed Girl with a Suitcase, with Claudia Cardinale and Jacques Perrin. The film was a critical and commercial success. Cronaca familiare (Family Diary), one of his major works, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Zurlini died on October 28, 1982 in Verona.