
Directing
Roberto Faenza
Born
1943-02-21 (83)
Place of birth
Turin, Piedmont, Italy
Known for
Directing
Credits
43 titles
Roberto Faenza (born 21 February 1943 in Turin) is an Italian film director. He received a degree in Political Science and a diploma at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Faenza made his directing debut in 1968 with the international success, Escalation, a film that describes the different sides of power through the relationship between a middle-class father and his hippie son. Immediately after that he directed H2S, an angry apology of the 1968 movement, seized two days after its release and not distributed since. Upon this sequestration he travelled to the United States to teach at the Federal City College of Washington DC.
Known for
8.3A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-time Oscar winner and the author of over five hundred unforgettable scores.
Ennio
2022
6.7Lisbon, 1938. Mr. Pereira is the editor of the culture section of an evening paper. Although fascism is on the rise in Europe, like in nearby civil war Spain or even inside Portugal itself in the form of Salazar's regime, Pereira only concerns himself with writing bios and translating French novels. Things change after he hires a young writer as his assistant, getting to know also his girlfriend – both opponents to the regime – and reluctantly helps them when they begin to get in trouble for subversive activities. Eventually, he's forced to take a stand...
Pereira Declares
1995
4.9In Prague, a musician is consumed by jealousy for his beautiful girlfriend. He hires a private eye to spy on her, but the plan backfires...
The Case of Unfaithful Klara
2009
5.5Precocious yet sensitive teenager James has a deep perception of the world but no idea how to live in it. Finding no help from his divorced parents nor his older memoir-writing sister, he decides to reject the beliefs adults try to push on him, starting with the college career that is looming over his last summer in New York, and embarks instead on a search for wisdom through nontraditional means...
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
2012
6.6Zurich, 1905. Nineteen-year-old Russian Sabina Spielrein is put by her parents in a psychiatric hospital, suffering from a severe form of hysteria and refusing to eat. A compassionate doctor, Carl Gustav Jung, takes her under his care and, for the first time, experiments with the psychoanalytical method of his teacher Sigmund Freud. Thus is born a sweeping story of love and passion, of body and soul, soaring to the utmost heights, but also plunging to the darkest depths of the 20th century.
The Soul Keeper
2003
5.8Olga's life is shattered when her husband leaves her. This makes her fall into a period of self-degradation and self-destructive behaviors.
The Days of Abandonment
2005
Film credits
2020s · 2 titles
8.3A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-time Oscar winner and the author of over five hundred unforgettable scores.
Ennio
2022
NRThis short film captures the vibrant moments, places, and emotions experienced and recorded over 24 hours in Bangkok, as seen through the eyes of talented Italian directors, producers, and actors who were invited to visit Thailand’s capital. Each of them documented unexpected experiences of the city at different times of the day and night. The result is an honest and unpredictable visual diary that reveals surprising perspectives of Bangkok.
Bangkok 24/7 - Italian Eyes
2026
Behind the camera
6.7Lisbon, 1938. Mr. Pereira is the editor of the culture section of an evening paper. Although fascism is on the rise in Europe, like in nearby civil war Spain or even inside Portugal itself in the form of Salazar's regime, Pereira only concerns himself with writing bios and translating French novels. Things change after he hires a young writer as his assistant, getting to know also his girlfriend – both opponents to the regime – and reluctantly helps them when they begin to get in trouble for subversive activities. Eventually, he's forced to take a stand...
Pereira Declares
1995
6.7Lisbon, 1938. Mr. Pereira is the editor of the culture section of an evening paper. Although fascism is on the rise in Europe, like in nearby civil war Spain or even inside Portugal itself in the form of Salazar's regime, Pereira only concerns himself with writing bios and translating French novels. Things change after he hires a young writer as his assistant, getting to know also his girlfriend – both opponents to the regime – and reluctantly helps them when they begin to get in trouble for subversive activities. Eventually, he's forced to take a stand...
Pereira Declares
1995
4.9In Prague, a musician is consumed by jealousy for his beautiful girlfriend. He hires a private eye to spy on her, but the plan backfires...
The Case of Unfaithful Klara
2009
4.9In Prague, a musician is consumed by jealousy for his beautiful girlfriend. He hires a private eye to spy on her, but the plan backfires...
The Case of Unfaithful Klara
2009
5.5Precocious yet sensitive teenager James has a deep perception of the world but no idea how to live in it. Finding no help from his divorced parents nor his older memoir-writing sister, he decides to reject the beliefs adults try to push on him, starting with the college career that is looming over his last summer in New York, and embarks instead on a search for wisdom through nontraditional means...
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
2012
5.5Precocious yet sensitive teenager James has a deep perception of the world but no idea how to live in it. Finding no help from his divorced parents nor his older memoir-writing sister, he decides to reject the beliefs adults try to push on him, starting with the college career that is looming over his last summer in New York, and embarks instead on a search for wisdom through nontraditional means...
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
2012
6.6Zurich, 1905. Nineteen-year-old Russian Sabina Spielrein is put by her parents in a psychiatric hospital, suffering from a severe form of hysteria and refusing to eat. A compassionate doctor, Carl Gustav Jung, takes her under his care and, for the first time, experiments with the psychoanalytical method of his teacher Sigmund Freud. Thus is born a sweeping story of love and passion, of body and soul, soaring to the utmost heights, but also plunging to the darkest depths of the 20th century.
The Soul Keeper
2003
6.6Zurich, 1905. Nineteen-year-old Russian Sabina Spielrein is put by her parents in a psychiatric hospital, suffering from a severe form of hysteria and refusing to eat. A compassionate doctor, Carl Gustav Jung, takes her under his care and, for the first time, experiments with the psychoanalytical method of his teacher Sigmund Freud. Thus is born a sweeping story of love and passion, of body and soul, soaring to the utmost heights, but also plunging to the darkest depths of the 20th century.
The Soul Keeper
2003
5.8Olga's life is shattered when her husband leaves her. This makes her fall into a period of self-degradation and self-destructive behaviors.
The Days of Abandonment
2005
5.8Olga's life is shattered when her husband leaves her. This makes her fall into a period of self-degradation and self-destructive behaviors.
The Days of Abandonment
2005
6.0A NYPD officer imprisons and tortures an admitted cop-killer, but finds the tables turned when his victim refuses to break and in fact urges more punishment.
Copkiller
1983
6.0A NYPD officer imprisons and tortures an admitted cop-killer, but finds the tables turned when his victim refuses to break and in fact urges more punishment.
Copkiller
1983
6.5Italy, WWII. After his anti-fascist mother is arrested, Mario spends his childhood on the streets. In 1947 they are miraculously reunited and start a new life in America. Based on the life of Mario Capecchi, 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Hill of Vision
2022
6.5Italy, WWII. After his anti-fascist mother is arrested, Mario spends his childhood on the streets. In 1947 they are miraculously reunited and start a new life in America. Based on the life of Mario Capecchi, 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Hill of Vision
2022
5.5Rome, August 7, 1990. 20-year-old Simonetta Cesaroni is killed with 29 stab wounds in her workplace in broad daylight.
Il delitto di Via Poma
2011
7.1In 1990s Palermo, Pino Puglisi is a priest from the neglected Brancaccio neighborhood dedicated in helping kids to get off the streets and creating an embracing place of hope and solidarity in his church, which means trouble for the local Mafia. He continues his solitary fight until the bitter end.
Come Into the Light
2005
7.1In 1990s Palermo, Pino Puglisi is a priest from the neglected Brancaccio neighborhood dedicated in helping kids to get off the streets and creating an embracing place of hope and solidarity in his church, which means trouble for the local Mafia. He continues his solitary fight until the bitter end.
Come Into the Light
2005
5.9In 1983 an English journalist travels to Italy to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young vatican girl.
La verità sta in cielo
2016
5.9In 1983 an English journalist travels to Italy to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young vatican girl.
La verità sta in cielo
2016
5.8The extraordinary life of the great poet Alda Merini: from mental illness to motherhood, from impossible loves to access to culture and fame. An unprecedented and fascinating portrait of a contemporary icon.
Folle d'amore - Alda Merini
2023
3.7After their son dies, a Jewish family moves from London to Israel in an attempt to piece their lives back together. The mother finds a way out of her depression through a relationship with a younger man—which doesn't seem to bother her husband. Meanwhile, their daughter begins dating a Palestinian handyman.
The Lost Lover
1999
3.7After their son dies, a Jewish family moves from London to Israel in an attempt to piece their lives back together. The mother finds a way out of her depression through a relationship with a younger man—which doesn't seem to bother her husband. Meanwhile, their daughter begins dating a Palestinian handyman.
The Lost Lover
1999
7.0The daughter of a bourgeoisified Communist MP and a permissive housewife brings home her latest boyfriend, a Neapolitan scoundrel.
Si salvi chi vuole
1980
6.5A Jewish boy living in Amsterdam at the onset of World War II is taken to a concentration camp with his parents. Based on the memoir of Holocaust survivor Jona Oberski.
Look to the Sky
1993
6.5A Jewish boy living in Amsterdam at the onset of World War II is taken to a concentration camp with his parents. Based on the memoir of Holocaust survivor Jona Oberski.
Look to the Sky
1993
5.5After World War II, Anita, a young survivor of Auschwitz, becomes involved in an intense and passionate affair that almost shatters her until she gains the strength to start a new life.
Anita B.
2014
5.5After World War II, Anita, a young survivor of Auschwitz, becomes involved in an intense and passionate affair that almost shatters her until she gains the strength to start a new life.
Anita B.
2014
8.0Much-censored documentary encompassing thirty years of Italian politics under the governance of the Christian Democracy (DC), entirely composed of — occasionally dubbed — archival footage.
Forza Italia!
1977
9.0In pre-WWI Austria-Hungary, a physician struggles with his decision about which woman will he marry.
The Bachelor
1990
9.0In pre-WWI Austria-Hungary, a physician struggles with his decision about which woman will he marry.
The Bachelor
1990
6.1In late 19th-century Sicily, the noble Uzeda family—whose lineage dates back to the ancient viceroys that ruled those lands—fights to preserve its waning power in the face of the newly unified Italian regime.
I Vicerè
2007
6.1In late 19th-century Sicily, the noble Uzeda family—whose lineage dates back to the ancient viceroys that ruled those lands—fights to preserve its waning power in the face of the newly unified Italian regime.
I Vicerè
2007
6.7In 18th-century Sicily, deaf-mute highborn Marianna Ucrìa is forced to marry at age 13, bearing three children before even turning 16, when she finally gives birth to a boy. Despite everything, she'll find a way to emancipate herself from the oppressive social conventions of the time.
Marianna Ucrìa
1997
6.7In 18th-century Sicily, deaf-mute highborn Marianna Ucrìa is forced to marry at age 13, bearing three children before even turning 16, when she finally gives birth to a boy. Despite everything, she'll find a way to emancipate herself from the oppressive social conventions of the time.
Marianna Ucrìa
1997
5.9Young student runs away from a 1984-esque dictatorship, lives for a while with a crazy girl in a surrealistic “igloo” in snowy wilderness and then returns to lead a revolution against the oppressive system. Sci-fi tale consistent with the political climate of May 68.
H2S
1969
5.9Young student runs away from a 1984-esque dictatorship, lives for a while with a crazy girl in a surrealistic “igloo” in snowy wilderness and then returns to lead a revolution against the oppressive system. Sci-fi tale consistent with the political climate of May 68.
H2S
1969
6.2Lawsuit-proof satirical "unauthorized biography" of Silvio Berlusconi told using only words spoken by the man himself in interviews, rallies, or other public statements.
Silvio Forever
2011
6.71968, London. Luca is living his 'swinging' years away from duties, while his father wants him to take the reins of the family business. He plots to have him kidnapped and placed in a sanitarium, where the young man undergoes electroshock therapy until 'normalised'. Luca is then made to marry a woman who is actually a psychiatrist hired to turn him into a perfect businessman.
Escalation
1968
6.71968, London. Luca is living his 'swinging' years away from duties, while his father wants him to take the reins of the family business. He plots to have him kidnapped and placed in a sanitarium, where the young man undergoes electroshock therapy until 'normalised'. Luca is then made to marry a woman who is actually a psychiatrist hired to turn him into a perfect businessman.
Escalation
1968
NRThis short film captures the vibrant moments, places, and emotions experienced and recorded over 24 hours in Bangkok, as seen through the eyes of talented Italian directors, producers, and actors who were invited to visit Thailand’s capital. Each of them documented unexpected experiences of the city at different times of the day and night. The result is an honest and unpredictable visual diary that reveals surprising perspectives of Bangkok.
Bangkok 24/7 - Italian Eyes
2026

