Contessa Marina Cicogna (born 29 May 1934) is a female Italian film producer and photographer. She produced the film '' Belle de Jour,'' which won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

in 1967.

Personal life

Cicogna was born in Rome and grew up in Milan, Venice, and Cortina. She was the daughter of a banker, and her grandfather was

Giuseppe Volpi Giuseppe Volpi, 1st Count of Misrata (19 November 1877 – 16 November 1947) was an Italian businessman and politician. Count Volpi developed utilities which brought electricity to Venice, northeast Italy, and the Balkans by 1903. In 1911� ...

, an influential figure in Italy's history; one of the country's richest men, he held many government posts and founded the

. Cicogna attended

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

in New York, staying less than a year. While there, she befriended the daughter of

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...

; this connection facilitated Cicogna's introduction to other actors in Hollywood. She studied photography at another school in the United States, and took pictures of Hollywood friends including

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

and

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragedy, ...

. The black and white photographs were later published in a book. For 20 years her life partner was the actress

Florinda Bolkan Florinda Bolkan (born Florinda Soares Bulcão; 15 February 1941) is a retired Brazilian actress and model. Biography She was born in Uruburetama and lived in Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro until she moved to Italy. A former flight inspector fo ...

Career

At the age of 32, Cicogna decided to pursue a career in the film industry. Her mother bought a share in a film distribution company, and Cicogna suggested films for the business to purchase. She distributed the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

film '' Helga'', which she describes as the first time a birth was shown on screen. She publicized it by placing "ambulances at the exit of the film, saying that people would faint when they saw that". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' describes her as "the first major female Italian film producer" and "one of the most powerful women in European cinema". One of her film's, '' Belle de Jour'', won the

at the 1967 Venice Film Festival. She also produced such films as ''

Once Upon a Time in the West ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( , "Once upon a time (there was) the West") is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Leone ...

'', ''

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion ''Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion'' ( it, Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto) is a 1970 Italian crime drama film directed by Elio Petri, starring Gian Maria Volonté and Florinda Bolkan. It is a psychological, bla ...

'', and ''

Brother Sun, Sister Moon ''Brother Sun, Sister Moon'' ( it, Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna) is a 1972 film directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Graham Faulkner and Judi Bowker. The film is an examination of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. Plot Francesco, the sp ...

''. Her interest in photography led to the publication of two books, one of them displaying images of her family's 18th-century home in Tripoli.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cicogna, Marina 1934 births Living people Italian countesses Italian nobility 20th-century Italian photographers 20th-century Italian women artists 20th-century women photographers Italian film producers Photographers from Rome Italian women film producers Italian women photographers Nastro d'Argento winners Lesbian artists LGBT film producers Italian LGBT people