Marco Amenta (Palermo, 11 August 1970) is an Italian director, producer, and

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

Biography

After attending the Liceo Classico Umberto I in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

, Amenta started his career at ''Il Giornale di Sicilia'' as a

. In 1992 he moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

where he obtained the Degree in

Cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

from the University Paris 8 and where worked for agencies and magazines, making many

short films A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

in film. During the war in ex-

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

he filmed the documentary ''Born in Bosnia'' for French TV, presented at the festival "Palermocinema" and another documentary in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

, ''Lettre de Cuba'', winner of the French "Rouletabille" for young filmmakers. In 1995 he produced and directed the documentary film ''Diary of a Sicilian Rebel'', official selection (out of competition) at the "54th Venice Film Festival." The film won 21 international

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award ...

, including 1st prize International Festival "50th Prix Italia" - 1st prize "Medianet Award" International Festival of Monaco di Baviera - 1st prize "Le Nombre d'Or" International Festival of Amsterdam—1st prize "Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Troia" (Lisbon) - 1st Prize "International Festival of Montevideo (Uruguay) - 1st Prize" International Festival of Carolina "(USA) - Certificate of Merit at the" Festival of Int San Francisco (USA) - Special Jury Prize at the "International Festival in Houston (USA) - 2nd prize International Festival of Monte Carlo". Is also

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

broadcast by RAI TV and 30 other TV stations worldwide. In 2004 wrote and directed the documentary ''The Last Godfather'', an Italo-French coproduction, with Mediterranean Films and ARTE France, sold to television in Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland and many other countries.

Filmography

''The Ghost Of Corleone''

In 2005 he directed ''The Ghost of Corleone'', documentary film about life and hunting to Bernardo Provenzano, produced by Eurofilm in co-production with

ARD (broadcaster) ARD is a joint organisation of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters. It was founded in 1950 in West Germany to represent the common interests of the new, decentralised, post-war broadcasting services – in particular the introduction ...

Germany and ARTE France. Purchased by RAI Cinema and SKY Italia. Released in cinemas on 30 March 2006, obtained a considerable success with the public and critics and Nomination to the "Golden Globes" 2006 and "Nastri d'Argento" in 2007 as best documentary released in cinemas in Italy. Received, in addition, the award "Best Production 2006" in The AltroCinema FF and Etruria Cinema in 2007.

''The Sicilian Girl''

In February 2009, came out in cinemas across Italy his debut film ''

The Sicilian Girl ''The Sicilian Girl'' ( it, La siciliana ribelle) is a 2008 Italian film directed by Marco Amenta. The film is inspired by the story of Rita Atria, a key witness in a major Mafia investigation in Sicily. Synopsis Beginning in 1985 in Balata, Si ...

'', after it was successfully presented at the "Rome International Film Festival". The movie is a co production between Italy (Eurofilm, R&C e

Rai Cinema RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

) and French (Roissy Film). The main actors of the movie are Gerard Jugnot (Les Choristes), Veronica d’Agostino (Respiro), Paolo Briguglia (I Cento Passi, La Terra), Lucia Sardo (I Cento Passi, Ma che Colpa abbiamo noi)), Marcello Mazzarella (Placido Rizzotto, Rosso Malpelo), Francesco Casisa (Respiro, The Golden Door) The movie was in competition at last Rome Film Festival and was very well received by critics and audience. Now The Sicilian Girl ("La Sicilienne" in France) is in Italy theatrical distribution and 13 May 2009 had a French theatrical distribution by Rezo Film where was very well received by critics. "The Sicilian Girl" will be releasing in Australia, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Israel. China, etc. The movie was nominated at David Donatello (Italian Cinema Oscar) as "Best New Director for his first feature film" and as "Best movie for students" and It was nominated at Nastri D’Argento as "Best New Director". Marco Amenta was recently awarded as a "Best Director" at Miami Sicilian Film Festival, as "Best Movie" at Stretto di Messina Film Festival, "Best First Features Film" and "Los Angeles Cinema Italian Style" at Magna Grecia FF, "Best Movie" at Roseto Film Festival and "Best Movie" at Maremetraggio Film Festival (Trieste). In 2010 the movie was awarded at Bastia Film festival with Best Audience Award and Best movie for youth. "The Sicilian Girl" was selected at Durban Film festival (2009) and Norwegian Film festival (2009), Palm Spring Film Festival (2010). Also it was selected to represent the Italian cinema at "Italian-Tokio Film Festival" and OpenRoad Film Festival in New York, N.I.C.E. Seattle and San Francisco FF.

''Banker To The Poor''

Amenta is currently working on his new film '' Banker to the Poor'',Banker to the Poor based on the international bestseller. The movie tells the story of Muhammad Yunus, a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

, inventor of

microcredit :''This article is specific to small loans, often provided in a pooled manner. For direct payments to individuals for specific projects, see Micropatronage. For financial services to the poor, see Microfinance. For small payments, see Micropa ...

and

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

in 2006 along with his

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank ( bn, গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organisation and community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requi ...

. For the script of his "Banker to the Poor", written together with the famous

Sergio Donati Sergio Donati (born 13 April 1933) is an Italian screenwriter. He has written for more than 70 films since 1952. He was born in Rome, Italy. He started as a writer and had some of his books optioned for film. He is well known for his collaborati ...

, Amenta was rewarded by

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

. Marco Amenta, Simonetta Amenta and her Eurofilm Company purchased the film rights before Professor Yunus won the Nobel Prize when he was unknown to most people.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amenta, Marco Italian film directors University of Paris alumni Living people Italian expatriates in France Film people from Palermo Year of birth missing (living people)