Farewell to Oscar-Winning Director Bernardo Bertolucci

Rome: Film lovers, friends, family and colleagues bid their last farewell to Italian Oscar-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci on Tuesday as his body lay in an open coffin at the City Hall in Rome. Following the celebrated director’s death Monday aged 77 flocks of film starlets and fellow directors visited Bertolucci’s open casket in Rome to pay homage to the master behind acclaimed films such as “Last Tango in Paris” and “The Little Emperor”, reports Efe news. Vittorio Storaro, photography director for many Bertolucci movies said at the event that “he wrote poems with the camera, not narratives”, a reference to Bertolucci’s early career as a poet. Bertolucci’s wife Clare Peploe made an appearance at the Rome town hall, as did the director’s colleagues and peers Giuseppe Tornatore, Paolo Taviani, Mario Martone and actress Stefania Sandrelli. Bertolucci launched his cinematographic career alongside other Italian greats including Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni during a golden age for Italian cinema.

The director and scriptwriter was quick to make a name for himself through his work which was, at times, deemed too provocative and even resulted in a punishment from the Italian government that deprived him of his most basic civil liberties — including the right to vote. (IANS)