Gianfranco Piccioli (26 February 1944 – 27 November 2022) was an Italian film director, film producer and screenwriter best known for such films as '' The Flower with the Petals of Steel'', ''

Beach House Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals). Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 to ...

'', ''

Bix Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...

'', and ''

The Pool Hustlers ''The Pool Hustlers'' ( it, Io, Chiara e lo Scuro, "I, Chiara and lo Scuro") is a 1982 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Maurizio Ponzi. It was screened in the ''Un Certain Regard'' section at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. It was co-writte ...

''.

Career

Born in

Viareggio Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city within the province of Lucca, after Lucca. It is known as a seaside resort as ...

, Piccioli graduated in arts, music and entertainment disciplines at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

. He entered the film industry serving as script supervisor in

Maurizio Arena Maurizio Arena (26 December 1933 – 21 November 1979) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1952 and 1978. Life and career Born in Rome as Maurizio Di Lorenzo, Arena made his film debut at nineteen years old, ...

's ''Gli altri, gli altri... e noi''. After directing some shorts and some TV reports, he made his feature film debut in 1972, with ''Doppio a metà''. After directing a

giallo In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...

('' The Flower with the Petals of Steel'') and a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

heist film The heist film or caper film is a subgenre of crime film focused on the planning, execution, and aftermath of a significant robbery. One of the early defining heist films was ''The Asphalt Jungle'' (1950), which ''Film Genre 2000'' wrote "almo ...

(''Puttana galera''), starting from

Sergio Citti Sergio Citti (30 May 1933 – 11 October 2005) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, born in Rome. He often worked with Pier Paolo Pasolini, but also worked for others such as Ettore Scola. His own films include ''We Free Kings'', ...

's ''

'' Piccioli devoted himself to production. As a producer, he was often interested in risky, unconventional ideas (such as

Davide Ferrario Davide Ferrario (born 26 June 1956) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and author. Life and career Born in Casalmaggiore, Cremona, Ferrario graduated in Anglo-American literature, then he began to work in film distribution, and he c ...

's '' We All Fall Down'') and in passion projects of established auteurs which had proved to be difficult to fund (such as

Pupi Avati Giuseppe Avati, better known as Pupi Avati (born 3 November 1938), is an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known to horror film fans for his two giallo masterpieces, ''The House with Laughing Windows'' (1976) and '' Zeder ...

's ''

'' and

Salvatore Samperi Salvatore Samperi (26 July 1944 – 4 March 2009) was an Italian film director. His 1973 film '' Malicious'' was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival and his 1979 film ''Ernesto'' was entered into the 29th Berlin In ...

's ''

Liquirizia ''Liquirizia'' (Italian for "Liquorice") is a 1979 Italian teen comedy film written and directed by Salvatore Samperi and starring Christian De Sica , Barbara Bouchet, Jenny Tamburi, Teo Teocoli and Tino Schirinzi. Plot Cast *Christian De S ...

''). Piccioli is best known for having launched the film careers of

Alessandro Benvenuti Alessandro Benvenuti (born 31 January 1950) is an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. He was co-founder, together with Francesco Nuti and Athina Cenci, of the comedy ensemble "GianCattivi" with whom he achieved his first successes o ...

and

Francesco Nuti Francesco Nuti (born 17 May 1955) is an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Prato, Nuti began his professional career as an actor in the late 1970s, when he formed the cabaret group ''Giancattivi'' together with ...

, with whom he also founded the production company Union PN. He retired in 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Piccioli, Gianfranco 1944 births 2022 deaths Italian film directors Italian film producers 20th-century Italian people People from Viareggio University of Bologna alumni