Ermanno Olmi

Directing

Ermanno Olmi

Born 1931-07-24 · Treviglio, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy

Ermanno Olmi (born July 24, 1931 in Bergamo, Lombardy) was a renowned Italian film director. Olmi's films have been described as "humanistic and reflective, portraying everyday people in particular landscapes and locations, while at the same time being charged with social comment and poetic flashes." His films fit into the artistic mold of Italian neorealism, though Olmi argued, in an interview found on the Criterion Edition DVD of his 1961 film, Il Posto, that this was the artistic tradition he was responding against because he used non-actors in authentic locations whereas neorealism, he claimed, used professional actors. However, many neorealist directors also used non-professional actors for secondary and sometimes even primary roles. His films, like most of those considered to be products of the neorealist movement, are shot in long, slow takes, and generally contain some sort of social commentary.

Acting credits

L'ultimo gattopardo - Ritratto di Goffredo Lombardo poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

L'ultimo gattopardo - Ritratto di Goffredo Lombardo

2010

Le 1000 vite di Bud Spencer poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Le 1000 vite di Bud Spencer

2019

Una storia milanese poster
6.7

Milan, one winter in the early sixties. Valeria, a free young woman who usually goes from one man to another, falls in love with Giampiero. This time, this is a serious relationship to the point that she contemplates marriage. All the more since she gets pregnant.

Una storia milanese

1962

Quando i tedeschi non sapevano nuotare poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Quando i tedeschi non sapevano nuotare

2013

Un Ballo in Maschera poster
10.0

Live performance from Oper Leipzig, 26 November 2005.

Un Ballo in Maschera

2005

No artwork available
NR

Documentary about Italian film director Ermanno Olmi, with emphasis on "The Tree of Wooden Clogs".

Ermanno Olmi: The Roots of the Tree

1981

Little Calabrians in Suna on Lake Maggiore poster
6.5

After a big flood some Calabrian children are sent to Milan.

Little Calabrians in Suna on Lake Maggiore

1953

Vedete, sono uno di voi poster
6.8

The film is the personal story of a protagonist of our times and traces Carlo Martini's actions and thoughts, as he has remained faithful to its vocation and ideals. Through dramatic events (terrorism, Tangentopoli, labor crisis, conflict, loneliness) Carlo Martini interpreted losses and concerns of the people, who saw a free man and a non dogmatic prince of the Gospel Church. Thanks to the authenticity of his testimony he has been a reference point for believers and non-believers, a prophet of hope, a forerunner of Pope Francis.

Vedete, sono uno di voi

2017

E venne l'uomo: Un dialogo con Ermanno Olmi poster
NR

A dialogue between director Ermanno Olmi and film critic Federico Pontiggia about Olmi's cinema and poetry.

E venne l'uomo: Un dialogo con Ermanno Olmi

2016

Racconti di giovani amori poster
7.0

A three-part TV film focusing on the emotional dynamics within young couples.

Racconti di giovani amori

1967

No artwork available
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Effetto Olmi

1982

Il ragazzo di Gigliola poster
NR

Gigliola discovers, during the trial of her boyfriend accused of theft, that she loves him more as a criminal.

Il ragazzo di Gigliola

1967

Behind the camera

Venice 70: Future Reloaded poster
5.0

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

2013

Genesis: The Creation and the Flood poster
6.4

An all-enveloping darkness. Suddenly, a child's voice, frightened, questioning, pierces the darkness... The first flickering rays of light begin to sculpt mysterious shapes out of the darkness... Among them, a very old man. He reassures the child, exhorting him to see the wonders of the earth. And it is with this child's eyes that we will witness the creation of the world.

Genesis: The Creation and the Flood

1994

Genesis: The Creation and the Flood poster
6.4

An all-enveloping darkness. Suddenly, a child's voice, frightened, questioning, pierces the darkness... The first flickering rays of light begin to sculpt mysterious shapes out of the darkness... Among them, a very old man. He reassures the child, exhorting him to see the wonders of the earth. And it is with this child's eyes that we will witness the creation of the world.

Genesis: The Creation and the Flood

1994

The Tree of Wooden Clogs poster
7.6

On a turn-of-the-20th-century northern Italian farm, a group of sharecroppers eke out a threadbare existence. A priest advises Batisti and his wife Batistina that their young son Minec should be formally educated, so they sacrifice his help in the fields and send him to school. When Minec's wooden shoe breaks one day, Batisti--in an act of desperation--puts the family's future at risk to replace the clog.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

1978

The Tree of Wooden Clogs poster
7.6

On a turn-of-the-20th-century northern Italian farm, a group of sharecroppers eke out a threadbare existence. A priest advises Batisti and his wife Batistina that their young son Minec should be formally educated, so they sacrifice his help in the fields and send him to school. When Minec's wooden shoe breaks one day, Batisti--in an act of desperation--puts the family's future at risk to replace the clog.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

1978

Rainbow: A Private Affair poster
6.2

Summer 1943, Piedmont, Italy. Milton loves Fulvia who plays with his love: she only likes the depth of his thought and the letters he writes to her. One year later, Milton has joined the Resistance and fights beside other partisans. He learns during a conversation that Fulvia was secretly in love with his best friend Giorgio, a partisan like him. Milton decides to go find Giorgio in the Langhe region of Italy with all its misty hills...But Giorgio has just been arrested by the Fascists.

Rainbow: A Private Affair

2017

Il Posto poster
7.7

With his family mired in financial troubles, Domenico moves to Milan, Italy, from his small town to get a job in lieu of furthering his education. A lack of options forces him to take a position as a messenger at a big company, where he hopes to receive a promotion soon. There, Domenico meets Antonietta, a young woman in a similar situation as himself. The two form a tentative relationship, but the soulless nature of their jobs threatens to keep them apart.

Il Posto

1961

Il Posto poster
7.7

With his family mired in financial troubles, Domenico moves to Milan, Italy, from his small town to get a job in lieu of furthering his education. A lack of options forces him to take a position as a messenger at a big company, where he hopes to receive a promotion soon. There, Domenico meets Antonietta, a young woman in a similar situation as himself. The two form a tentative relationship, but the soulless nature of their jobs threatens to keep them apart.

Il Posto

1961

Around a Small Mountain poster
6.0

Vittorio stops to help Kate when her car breaks down on a mountain road. When they meet again, Vittorio discovers that Kate has rejoined a circus after a long time away. He begins to learn about the troupe's buried past and Kate's connection to it, while experiencing the magic of the circus.

Around a Small Mountain

2009

Tickets poster
6.5

A train travels across Italy toward Rome. Onboard is a professor who daydreams a conversation with a love that never was; a family of Albanian refugees who switch trains and steal a ticket; three brash Scottish soccer fans en route to a match; and a complaining widow travelling to a memorial service for her late husband who's accompanied by a community-service volunteer who's assisting her. Interactions among these Europeans turn on class and nationalism, courtesy and decorum, and opportunities for kindness.

Tickets

2005

Tickets poster
6.5

A train travels across Italy toward Rome. Onboard is a professor who daydreams a conversation with a love that never was; a family of Albanian refugees who switch trains and steal a ticket; three brash Scottish soccer fans en route to a match; and a complaining widow travelling to a memorial service for her late husband who's accompanied by a community-service volunteer who's assisting her. Interactions among these Europeans turn on class and nationalism, courtesy and decorum, and opportunities for kindness.

Tickets

2005

The Fiancés poster
7.6

A young man has a renewed interest in his girlfriend when he takes a job that separates the two.

The Fiancés

1963

The Fiancés poster
7.6

A young man has a renewed interest in his girlfriend when he takes a job that separates the two.

The Fiancés

1963

The Legend of the Holy Drinker poster
6.6

Andreas Kartak, a homeless man living under the bridges of Paris, is lent 200 francs by a stranger as long as he promises to repay it to a local church when he can afford to. Kartak is determined to pay back his debt but circumstances, and his alcoholism, forever intervene.

The Legend of the Holy Drinker

1988

The Legend of the Holy Drinker poster
6.6

Andreas Kartak, a homeless man living under the bridges of Paris, is lent 200 francs by a stranger as long as he promises to repay it to a local church when he can afford to. Kartak is determined to pay back his debt but circumstances, and his alcoholism, forever intervene.

The Legend of the Holy Drinker

1988

The Scavengers poster
7.8

After World War II an Italian soldier returns to his hometown near the Alps and, unable to find a job, hooks up with a crotchety hermit who scavenges buried shells and bombs for scrap metal.

The Scavengers

1972

The Scavengers poster
7.8

After World War II an Italian soldier returns to his hometown near the Alps and, unable to find a job, hooks up with a crotchety hermit who scavenges buried shells and bombs for scrap metal.

The Scavengers

1972

The Duchess of Langeais poster
5.2

At a Spanish cloister, a celebrated French general of the Napoleonic Wars recognizes the voice of one of the nuns and recalls how, five years ago, she was the Duchess of Langeais, and he her most persistent suitor.

The Duchess of Langeais

2007

Singing Behind Screens poster
5.9

A young man enters a brothel and sees a staged narration of a Chinese folk tale concerning a female pirate.

Singing Behind Screens

2003

Singing Behind Screens poster
5.9

A young man enters a brothel and sees a staged narration of a Chinese folk tale concerning a female pirate.

Singing Behind Screens

2003

The Profession of Arms poster
6.7

In autumn of 1526, the Emperor, Charles V, sends his German landsknechts led by Georg von Frundsberg to march towards Rome. The inferior papal armies, commanded by Giovanni de'Medici, try to chase them in the midst of a harsh winter. Nevertheless, the Imperial armies manage to cross the rivers along their march and get cannons thanks to the maneuvers of its Lords. In a skirmish, Giovanni de'Medici is wounded in the leg by a falconet shot. The attempts to cure him fail and he dies. The Imperial armies assault Rome. The film is beautifully but unassumingly set, and shows the hard conditions in which war is waged and its lack of glory. It ends straightforwardly with the declaration made after the death of Giovanni de'Medici by the commanders of the armies in Europe of not using again fire weapons because of their cruelty.

The Profession of Arms

2001

The Profession of Arms poster
6.7

In autumn of 1526, the Emperor, Charles V, sends his German landsknechts led by Georg von Frundsberg to march towards Rome. The inferior papal armies, commanded by Giovanni de'Medici, try to chase them in the midst of a harsh winter. Nevertheless, the Imperial armies manage to cross the rivers along their march and get cannons thanks to the maneuvers of its Lords. In a skirmish, Giovanni de'Medici is wounded in the leg by a falconet shot. The attempts to cure him fail and he dies. The Imperial armies assault Rome. The film is beautifully but unassumingly set, and shows the hard conditions in which war is waged and its lack of glory. It ends straightforwardly with the declaration made after the death of Giovanni de'Medici by the commanders of the armies in Europe of not using again fire weapons because of their cruelty.

The Profession of Arms

2001

12 Directors for 12 Cities poster
5.6

Promotional omnibus film, made for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, featuring portraits of 12 Italian cities.

12 Directors for 12 Cities

1989

In the Summertime poster
7.9

A young man shares his fantasies with a young girl who is already on the threshold of disillusion. Will she respond to him?

In the Summertime

1971