Carlo Mazzacurati

Directing

Carlo Mazzacurati

Born — Died

1956-03-02 — 2014-01-22

Place of birth

Padua, Veneto, Italy

Known for

Directing

Credits

37 titles

Carlo Mazzacurati (2 March 1956 – 22 January 2014) was an Italian film director and screenwriter from Padua. His native Po valley was often featured in his movies. He made his directorial debut with Notte italiana (1987) and co-wrote Daniele Luchetti's It's Happening Tomorrow (1989)—both produced by Nanni Moretti—before gaining recognition on his own with social dramas Il toro (1994) and Vesna va veloce (1996), the former earning him the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Starting with La lingua del santo (2000), Mazzacurati's work entered a more mainstream, comedic field, albeit retaining its bittersweet character studies. A notable exception was The Right Distance (2008), which marke…

Known for

Palombella rossa poster
7.1

Michele is an MP for the Italian Communist Party who loses his memory in a car crash, though hardly anyone around him seems to notice. During a crucial water polo match on the eve of election day, he gradually begins to remember his past life, revealing a man whose personal and political identity crisis mirrors that of Italian communism itself.

Palombella rossa

1989

Caro diario poster
7.3

Nanni Moretti recounts in his diary three slice-of-life stories marked by a dry, ironic gaze: in the first, he rides his Vespa through a deserted, sun-drenched summertime Rome; in the second, he visits a reclusive friend on an island, who ropes him into an impromptu journey between islets in search of quiet; and in the last, he finds himself grappling with an unknown illness.

Caro diario

1993

The Caiman poster
6.7

Bruno Bonomo was a famous producer of B-movies in the ‘70s. After a long hiatus, Bonomo offers a screenplay to RAI centered on the figure of Italy’s prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, a subject so controversial that even the public television broadcaster refuses to produce it

The Caiman

2006

An Italian Romance poster
5.5

Giovanni, a married man with a child, meets on a train Maria, a former lover.

An Italian Romance

2004

La passione poster
6.3

To avoid being sued, a film director reluctantly agrees to set up and direct the Good Friday celebrations in a small Tuscan town.

La passione

2010

Il toro poster
6.7

After being fired from his bull breeding job without proper compensation, Franco steals a world-class bull from his former employer and smuggles it to Hungary, planning to sell it for a large sum of money.

Il toro

1994

Film credits

Behind the camera

An Italian Romance poster
5.5

Giovanni, a married man with a child, meets on a train Maria, a former lover.

An Italian Romance

2004

An Italian Romance poster
5.5

Giovanni, a married man with a child, meets on a train Maria, a former lover.

An Italian Romance

2004

La passione poster
6.3

To avoid being sued, a film director reluctantly agrees to set up and direct the Good Friday celebrations in a small Tuscan town.

La passione

2010

La passione poster
6.3

To avoid being sued, a film director reluctantly agrees to set up and direct the Good Friday celebrations in a small Tuscan town.

La passione

2010

Il toro poster
6.7

After being fired from his bull breeding job without proper compensation, Franco steals a world-class bull from his former employer and smuggles it to Hungary, planning to sell it for a large sum of money.

Il toro

1994

Il toro poster
6.7

After being fired from his bull breeding job without proper compensation, Franco steals a world-class bull from his former employer and smuggles it to Hungary, planning to sell it for a large sum of money.

Il toro

1994

La sedia della felicità poster
5.6

Dino craft practice tattoos, Bruna is a beautician; their studies are facing each other. They learn of a mysterious treasure hidden in a chair that belonged to a woman now dead.

La sedia della felicità

2014

La sedia della felicità poster
5.6

Dino craft practice tattoos, Bruna is a beautician; their studies are facing each other. They learn of a mysterious treasure hidden in a chair that belonged to a woman now dead.

La sedia della felicità

2014

On the Tiger's Back poster
5.7

Plagued by financial problems, ne'er-do-well Guido ends up in jail after faking an armed robbery at his workplace. A year later, just a few days before his release, he's forced by two dangerous inmates to take part in their jailbreak. On the run, Guido sets out to find his partner Antonella, who helped him with the robbery and still has the money.

On the Tiger's Back

2002

On the Tiger's Back poster
5.7

Plagued by financial problems, ne'er-do-well Guido ends up in jail after faking an armed robbery at his workplace. A year later, just a few days before his release, he's forced by two dangerous inmates to take part in their jailbreak. On the run, Guido sets out to find his partner Antonella, who helped him with the robbery and still has the money.

On the Tiger's Back

2002

Marrakech Express poster
7.3

After learning that an old friend of theirs has been arrested in Morocco on drug charges, four former college buddies set out for Marrakech to bail him out.

Marrakech Express

1989

Vesna Goes Fast poster
6.1

Czech immigrant Vesna arrives in Italy and is forced into casual prostitution by poverty. The encounter with a kind construction worker could help change her situation.

Vesna Goes Fast

1996

Vesna Goes Fast poster
6.1

Czech immigrant Vesna arrives in Italy and is forced into casual prostitution by poverty. The encounter with a kind construction worker could help change her situation.

Vesna Goes Fast

1996

Sei Venezia poster
NR

What is the "feeling" of a city? Is it the roads, the light that illuminates them, the people that live there and their stories? It's all these things, but also something else, something requiring time and attention to be understood. The film goes in search of this feeling exploring the city of Venice and its lagoon, prying into its less-known corners and listening to the stories of six citizens: a hotel waitress, an old archaeologist, a pensioner from Mestre, a painter/fisherman, an apartment burglar and a young boy.

Sei Venezia

2012

Sei Venezia poster
NR

What is the "feeling" of a city? Is it the roads, the light that illuminates them, the people that live there and their stories? It's all these things, but also something else, something requiring time and attention to be understood. The film goes in search of this feeling exploring the city of Venice and its lagoon, prying into its less-known corners and listening to the stories of six citizens: a hotel waitress, an old archaeologist, a pensioner from Mestre, a painter/fisherman, an apartment burglar and a young boy.

Sei Venezia

2012

No artwork available
NR

Anthology short film with segments by nine directors against Silvio Berlusconi and its Forza Italia party — released ahead of the 1994 Italian general elections, which Berlusconi nevertheless won in a landslide. In Nanni Moretti's segment, he and Silvio Orlando reprise their roles from The Yes Man (1991).

The Only Country In The World

1994

Notte italiana poster
6.9

Otello Morsiani, a north-eastern-italian lawyer, takes the job of estimating land holdings on the Po Delta, which are intended to be expropriated to make way for a national park. The lawyer soon discovers that in that area, once target of methane extraction, the soil is now at risk to sink, due to hydrogeological disturbance: in the meanwhile, he also digs out a mystery tied to a death dating back twenty years before.

Notte italiana

1987

Notte italiana poster
6.9

Otello Morsiani, a north-eastern-italian lawyer, takes the job of estimating land holdings on the Po Delta, which are intended to be expropriated to make way for a national park. The lawyer soon discovers that in that area, once target of methane extraction, the soil is now at risk to sink, due to hydrogeological disturbance: in the meanwhile, he also digs out a mystery tied to a death dating back twenty years before.

Notte italiana

1987

Holy Tongue poster
6.4

Two deadbeat friends see the opportunity of turning their fortune around after they come into possession of a precious stolen relic, the tongue of St. Anthony of Padua.

Holy Tongue

2000

Holy Tongue poster
6.4

Two deadbeat friends see the opportunity of turning their fortune around after they come into possession of a precious stolen relic, the tongue of St. Anthony of Padua.

Holy Tongue

2000

Medici con l'Africa poster
NR

Documentary about Medici con l'Africa CUAMM, one of Italy's foremost humanitarian NGOs to operate in Africa.

Medici con l'Africa

2012

The Right Distance poster
6.9

The arrival of an attractive young teacher in a small town in the Po valley disturbs the drowsy life of the place, leading eventually to a murder.

The Right Distance

2007

The Right Distance poster
6.9

The arrival of an attractive young teacher in a small town in the Po valley disturbs the drowsy life of the place, leading eventually to a murder.

The Right Distance

2007

Un'altra vita poster
3.6

Saverio, a dentist, comes out as naive as usual while he falls in love with Alia, a Russian immigrant he met in Rome. He must now deal with issues a guy like him would never have thought to come across.

Un'altra vita

1992

Un'altra vita poster
3.6

Saverio, a dentist, comes out as naive as usual while he falls in love with Alia, a Russian immigrant he met in Rome. He must now deal with issues a guy like him would never have thought to come across.

Un'altra vita

1992

Il prete bello poster
4.0

In 1939 Vicenza, a young petty thief befriends the local priest. Based on the novel by Goffredo Parise.

Il prete bello

1989

Il prete bello poster
4.0

In 1939 Vicenza, a young petty thief befriends the local priest. Based on the novel by Goffredo Parise.

Il prete bello

1989

L'estate di Davide poster
7.8

At 19, David has his diploma (the first in his family), a job at a car wash, and little else. His family is broke and argues constantly. So, unannounced, David leaves Turin for his uncle's farm in Polesine. Here he learns many life lessons over the course of a summer while hanging out with Bosnian drug dealer Alem and Patrizia, an older woman who's an addict.

L'estate di Davide

1998

Ritratti: Mario Rigoni Stern poster
NR

Marco Paolini interviews Mario Rigoni Stern about—among other things—his well-known experience as a soldier on the Eastern front during WWII, culminating in the infamous retreat of the Italian troops, the difficult reintegration into civilian life after the war, his relationship with his literary work and with his ancestral land, the Asiago Plateau.

Ritratti: Mario Rigoni Stern

1999

Ritratti: Luigi Meneghello poster
9.0

Marco Paolini interviews Luigi Meneghello about growing up under fascism, his involvement with the Italian resistance movement, his later self-exile, acclaimed literary work and its relationship with dialect.

Ritratti: Luigi Meneghello

2002

Ritratti: Andrea Zanzotto poster
7.0

Marco Paolini discusses with poet Andrea Zanzotto about nature, history and language.

Ritratti: Andrea Zanzotto

2000

No artwork available
NR

A self-produced road movie.

Vagabondi

1983