Michelangelo Antonioni

Directing

Michelangelo Antonioni

Born 1912-09-29 · Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor, and short story writer. Best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents" — L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L'Eclisse (1962), as well as the English-language Blowup (1966), Antonioni "redefined the concept of narrative cinema" and challenged traditional approaches to storytelling, realism, drama, and the world at large. He produced "enigmatic and intricate mood pieces" and rejected action in favor of contemplation, focusing on image and design over character and story. His films defined a "cinema of possibilities". Antonioni received numerous awards and nominations throughout his career, including the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize (1960, 1962), Palme d'Or (1966), and 35th Anniversary Prize (1982); the Venice Film Festival Silver Lion (1955), Golden Lion (1964), FIPRESCI Prize (1964, 1995), and Pietro Bianchi Award (1998); the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon eight times; and an honorary Academy Award in 1995. He is one of three directors to have won the Palme d'Or, the Golden Lion and the Golden Bear, and the only director to have won these three and the Golden Leopard.

Acting credits

Wandering Heart poster
4.5

Wandering Heart intimately follows Caetano from São Paulo to New York and Japan, during the release of his first album recorded solely in English. It takes considerably more than a week-long series of shows at Carnegie Hall, accolades in the New York Times, or the admiration of friends like Pedro Almodóvar, David Byrne and Michelangelo Antonioni to make Caetano feel comfortable outside of Brazil.

Wandering Heart

2009

Room 666 poster
6.6

During the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, Wim Wenders asked a number of global film directors to, one at a time, go into a hotel room, turn on the camera, and answer a simple question: "What is the future of cinema?"

Room 666

1985

Dear Antonioni poster
NR

A documentary portrait of Michangelo Antonioni based on Roland Barthes' essay.

Dear Antonioni

1995

Close Up poster
9.5

More than 150 silent short films about singers, actors and directors captured during Press Conferences in Cannes, Venice and Berlin, between 1993 and 2002. Presented the first time in 2012 (ten years after the last shooting) in Napoli Film Festival and in 2013 at the Art Institute of California in Santa Ana. An anthropological experiment on the facial expressions of famous people showing the human being aspect. All original footage from Mel Gibson to Peter Jackson, from George Lucas to Catherine Deneuve, from Michael Douglas to Giancarlo Giannini and many others.

Close Up

2012

Words in Progress poster
5.5

Documentary featuring footage from six decades of Cannes Film Festivals.

Words in Progress

2004

Fame, Fashion and Photography: The Real Blow Up poster
8.5

Tells the story of the photographers who cemented the image of swinging London and who, through their pictures, irreversibly altered the face of fashion and pop.

Fame, Fashion and Photography: The Real Blow Up

2002

Cinéma et Réalité poster
6.5

In this documentary, giants of italian cinema such as Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini and Zavattini talk about the importance of cinema after WW2, and about huge moments of social rebellion. This movie gives the floor to the creators of italian neorealism.

Cinéma et Réalité

1967

Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit poster
7.0

An account of the life of actress Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017), a true icon of the New Wave and one of the most idolized French movie stars.

Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit

2018

Michelangelo Eye to Eye poster
6.2

In this short documentary, Michelangelo Antonioni enters the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome to contemplate Michelangelo Buonarroti’s statue of Moses. The film consists of Antonioni’s silent observation of the sculpture and the surrounding space, recorded during a visit following the restoration of the monument.

Michelangelo Eye to Eye

2004

A Thousand and One Monica poster
NR

There is no shortage of words to define the actress, screenwriter and director Monica Vitti: Intense, beautiful, sensual, eclectic, intelligent, muse... She was a shining star during the golden age of Italian cinema. She is a legendary figure who served as example for generations of young filmmakers. Monica Vitti’s story is the story of Italian cinema; her life is inextricably linked to the medium. This documentary shows the sheer physicality of her acting; her visceral style which demanded that everything, personality defects included, was integrated into her unique performances.

A Thousand and One Monica

2006

To Make a Film Is to Be Alive poster
7.0

A behind-the-scenes look by wife Enrica Antonioni into Michelangelo Antonioni's passion for cinema as he directs Beyond the Clouds (1995), assisted by filmmaker Wim Wenders.

To Make a Film Is to Be Alive

1995

Antonioni, la dernière séquence poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Antonioni, la dernière séquence

1985

Antonioni visto da Antonioni poster
NR

An interview with Antonioni about his film career, shot in 1978 by eminent film critic, film historian and founder of the Pesaro Film Festival, Lino Miccichè. Karlovy Vary IFF 2012

Antonioni visto da Antonioni

1978

Farewell to Enrico Berlinguer poster
6.5

A film of Enrico Berlinguer's funeral in Rome, briefly tracing his career as leader of the Italian Communist Party.

Farewell to Enrico Berlinguer

1984

Un po' di Giappone poster
NR

In the 1980s, Michelangelo Antonioni traveled with his partner, actress and filmmaker Enrica Fico Antonioni, to Japan with the intent of creating a documentary, Un viaggio in Giappone, that would chronicle “the social transformations undergoing in Japan through the experimental use of new film technologies,” specifically the Betacam. Un po' di Giappone is the shortened version of the documentary.

Un po' di Giappone

1990

No artwork available
5.5

What is the future of cinema? In 1982, in Cannes, Wim Wenders invited many movie makers to answer this question. 26 years later, the question remains, but Wenders is now on the other side of the camera.

Back to Room 666

2008

No artwork available
NR

A documentary on the life, work, and character of Michelangelo Antonioni.

Antonioni su Antonioni

2008

Autoritratto Auschwitz. L'occhio è per così dire l'evoluzione biologica di una lagrima poster
NR

In the film we find some scrap of slow motion they see a Monica Vitti trying to cry, a meeting between Antonioni and Grifi, a film shot in the concentration camp of Auschwitz with a survivor who recounts those awful moments, a glimpse of Palestine today, Grifi's reflections on the prison.

Autoritratto Auschwitz. L'occhio è per così dire l'evoluzione biologica di una lagrima

2007

I Am Not God But I Am Michelangelo Antonioni poster
NR

A documentary which explores the life and the career of Michelangelo Antonioni, one of the greatest Italian directors, through archival footage and interviews.

I Am Not God But I Am Michelangelo Antonioni

Underground New York poster
NR

A rare behind-the-scenes view of the exploding New York “underground” in the late sixities, a turbulent time and place that was to change American culture forever. A German TV crew, led by journalist Gideon Bachmann, explores the epicenter of the sixties revolution in art, music, poetry and film and interviews the main players in the “New American Cinema,” that was born on the streets of New York. Against a backdrop of cultural upheaval in all of the arts and growing political agitation against the Vietnam War, Bachman interviews the most prominent figures in “underground film,” including Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, the Kuchar Brothers and Bruce Connor, and visits the most notorious location in the New York art world of the era - Andy Warhol’s Factory - to conduct an interview with the genius of Pop Art himself.

Underground New York

1968

Michelangelo Antonioni: The Eye That Changed Cinema poster
9.0

A look back at the life and works of Michelangelo Antonioni.

Michelangelo Antonioni: The Eye That Changed Cinema

2001

Antonioni: Documents and Testimonials poster
6.3

A behind-the-scenes documentary about director Michelangelo Antonioni as he's shooting his segment of The Three Faces, a vehicle for Soraya, the former empress of Persia. Featuring interviews with Monica Vitti, Tonino Guerra and more.

Antonioni: Documents and Testimonials

1965

Monica Vitti, une étoile dans la nuit poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Monica Vitti, une étoile dans la nuit

2017

Behind the camera

Eros poster
5.7

A three-part anthology about love and sexuality: a menage-a-trois between a couple and a young woman on the coast of Tuscany; an advertising executive under enormous pressure at work, who, during visits to his psychiatrist, is pulled to delve into the possible reasons why his stress seems to manifest itself in a recurring erotic dream; a story of unrequited love about a beautiful, 1960s high-end call girl in an impossible affair with her young tailor.

Eros

2004

Eros poster
5.7

A three-part anthology about love and sexuality: a menage-a-trois between a couple and a young woman on the coast of Tuscany; an advertising executive under enormous pressure at work, who, during visits to his psychiatrist, is pulled to delve into the possible reasons why his stress seems to manifest itself in a recurring erotic dream; a story of unrequited love about a beautiful, 1960s high-end call girl in an impossible affair with her young tailor.

Eros

2004

L'Eclisse poster
7.7

Vittoria is a beautiful literary translator living in Rome. After splitting from her writer boyfriend, Riccardo, Vittoria meets Piero, a lively stockbroker, on the hectic floor of the Roman stock exchange. Though Vittoria and Piero begin a relationship, it is not one without difficulties, and their commitment to one another is tested during an eclipse.

L'Eclisse

1962

L'Eclisse poster
7.7

Vittoria is a beautiful literary translator living in Rome. After splitting from her writer boyfriend, Riccardo, Vittoria meets Piero, a lively stockbroker, on the hectic floor of the Roman stock exchange. Though Vittoria and Piero begin a relationship, it is not one without difficulties, and their commitment to one another is tested during an eclipse.

L'Eclisse

1962

Blow-Up poster
7.3

A successful mod photographer in London whose world is bounded by fashion, pop music, marijuana, and easy sex, feels his life is boring and despairing. But in the course of a single day he unknowingly captures a death on film.

Blow-Up

1966

Blow-Up poster
7.3

A successful mod photographer in London whose world is bounded by fashion, pop music, marijuana, and easy sex, feels his life is boring and despairing. But in the course of a single day he unknowingly captures a death on film.

Blow-Up

1966

Zabriskie Point poster
7.0

Anthropology student Daria, who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert, and dropout Mark, who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot, accidentally encounter each other in Death Valley and soon begin an unrestrained romance.

Zabriskie Point

1970

Zabriskie Point poster
7.0

Anthropology student Daria, who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert, and dropout Mark, who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot, accidentally encounter each other in Death Valley and soon begin an unrestrained romance.

Zabriskie Point

1970

L'Avventura poster
7.5

Claudia and Anna join Anna's lover, Sandro, on a boat trip to a remote volcanic island. When Anna goes missing, a search is launched. In the meantime, Sandro and Claudia become involved in a romance despite Anna's disappearance, though the relationship suffers from guilt and tension.

L'Avventura

1960

L'Avventura poster
7.5

Claudia and Anna join Anna's lover, Sandro, on a boat trip to a remote volcanic island. When Anna goes missing, a search is launched. In the meantime, Sandro and Claudia become involved in a romance despite Anna's disappearance, though the relationship suffers from guilt and tension.

L'Avventura

1960

The Passenger poster
7.2

David Locke is a world-weary American journalist who has been sent to cover a conflict in northern Africa, but he makes little progress with the story. When he discovers the body of a stranger who looks similar to him, Locke assumes the dead man's identity. However, he soon finds out that the man was an arms dealer, leading Locke into dangerous situations. Aided by a beautiful woman, Locke attempts to avoid both the police and criminals out to get him.

The Passenger

1975

The Passenger poster
7.2

David Locke is a world-weary American journalist who has been sent to cover a conflict in northern Africa, but he makes little progress with the story. When he discovers the body of a stranger who looks similar to him, Locke assumes the dead man's identity. However, he soon finds out that the man was an arms dealer, leading Locke into dangerous situations. Aided by a beautiful woman, Locke attempts to avoid both the police and criminals out to get him.

The Passenger

1975

La Notte poster
7.9

A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship in Milan.

La Notte

1961

La Notte poster
7.9

A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship in Milan.

La Notte

1961

Beyond the Clouds poster
6.2

Four tales, each centered on a woman, journey inward to explore the enigmatic reality of their lives, connecting through a single narrative thread.

Beyond the Clouds

1995

Beyond the Clouds poster
6.2

Four tales, each centered on a woman, journey inward to explore the enigmatic reality of their lives, connecting through a single narrative thread.

Beyond the Clouds

1995

Red Desert poster
7.3

In an industrializing Italian town, a married woman, rendered mentally unstable after a traffic accident, drifts into an affair with a friend of her husband.

Red Desert

1964

Red Desert poster
7.3

In an industrializing Italian town, a married woman, rendered mentally unstable after a traffic accident, drifts into an affair with a friend of her husband.

Red Desert

1964

Sweet Ruin poster
NR

An unproduced screenplay by Michelangelo Antonioni provides the basis for this existential tale of a gun-obsessed journalist, starring Gaby Hoffmann in roles originally intended for Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider.

Sweet Ruin

2008

The Three Faces poster
5.7

Italian comedy film made of three segments directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Mauro Bolognini and Franco Indovina. First segment: Il Provino; second segment: Gli amanti celebri; third segment: Latin Lover.

The Three Faces

1965

Il Grido poster
7.5

A sugar-refinery worker flees his Northern Italy town after a woman refuses his marriage proposal.

Il Grido

1957

Il Grido poster
7.5

A sugar-refinery worker flees his Northern Italy town after a woman refuses his marriage proposal.

Il Grido

1957

Love in the City poster
6.5

Six vignettes explore love and desire in Rome, from prostitution and heartache to unwed motherhood and the male gaze.

Love in the City

1953

Love in the City poster
6.5

Six vignettes explore love and desire in Rome, from prostitution and heartache to unwed motherhood and the male gaze.

Love in the City

1953