There are various interpretations that are assigned to the role, to the function of the director: in the Anglo-Saxon world the operating figure on the set is mainly identified, the one who directs the filming, coordinates the various sequences, takes care of the relationship with the actors and, in the end, takes care of the assembly. In Europe the figure of the director has prevailed as author, sometimes as direct interpreter of the screenplay, also assuming the definition of artistic director. At the same time he is also a "technician" for the role of coordinator of all the other professional figures who contribute to the making of the film: from the director of photography, to the set designer, to the soundtrack composer, to the special effects manager. Furthermore, often the director is also the production manager and therefore takes care of the budget, promotion and distribution. We quote from Treccani (edited by Lucilla Albano): “The r. is a function at the center of a multiplicity of relationships and different skills (screenwriter, director of photography, costume designer, set designer, musician, actors, crew, editor, producer, distributor, etc.) of which the director is the driving force and point of reference, meeting place of a 'collective centrality'. In fact, the film is not only the work of a director-author, but also the result of a collective work (see cinematographic work) and the product of an industry, facts that determine the main contradiction of the film: the clash between the collaborative and industrial nature of cinema with the parallel, essential singularity and individuality of any artistic result. But the director is precisely that modern figure of author, that new 'thinker' of his time, who combines the roles of artist and technician, creator and professional …”. (http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/regia_%28Enciclopedia-del-Cinema%29/ )
Among the great directors we must remember the French Jean Renoir (son of the famous father Pierre Auguste) who at the beginning of the last century became the best known, not only in his country throughout the international scene (among his memorable works The Grand Illusion of 1937 and The golden carriage, with Anna Magnani, from 1953) and Alain Resnais (his first great success Hiroshima monlove 1959 and Mon uncle byAmerica of 1980). Among the Italian directors Dino Risi, one of the creators of the so-called "pink neorealism" or even of the new "Italian-style" comedy. His are the famous ones Poor but beautiful 1956 and Overtaking 1962 and In the name of the Pope king. of 1971. In 2002 he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Francesco Rosi, at the beginning as an assistant to Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni, focuses on social and current issues: among his first very successful works Salvatore Giuliano of 1961, Hands on the city of 1963 (Golden Lion in Venice), Men Against of 1970 up to The Truce of 1997. Roberto Rossellini: a pillar in the history of Italian cinema. With Rome city open of 1945 opens the season of Italian neorealism. Followed by Paisà in 1946 and in 48 Germania anno zero. Film archive titles follow, among which we mention a few: Stromboli, land of God, General Della Rovere of 1959 (Leono d'oro in Venice). In recent years he has dedicated himself a lot to television and has made documentary films such as the 1968 Acts of the Apostles and The seizure of power by Louis XIV.
As for the movies, a small but necessary step back with Fourth power by Orson Welles from 1941, considered his debut masterpiece (at the time the director was only 25 years old). It is a central work in the history of cinema (the phrase by François Truffaut is famous: “I belong to a generation of filmmakers who decided to make films after seeing Citizen Kane”).
Other titles to mention are Rashomon, by Akira Kurosawa, at its debut in Venice in 1951 where a "Pirandellian" story is staged with five truths told by different protagonists; La recital by Teodoros Anghelopulos, where the history of Greece is condensed in over 3 hours of images through its main public and private events. Among the Italian films we propose Regalo di Natale, by Pupi Avati from 1986, where the director shows great attention to human comedy in its often dramatic aspects. Finally, it is mandatory to remember I start again from three, with the direction and screenplay by Massimo Troisi in his first work. It is a film with a prominent position in any film library: there is all the comedy of traditional Italian comedy (particularly Neapolitan) but also the whole panorama of the expressiveness of human feelings.
Last note about road movie a consolidated film genre that has given many important titles to the history of cinema: among the Italians the aforementioned Il Sorpasso by Dino Risi as well as Traveling with dad from 1982 with Alberto Sordi and Carlo Verdone; absolutely, in the international arena the progenitor is Easy Rider, by Denis Hopper from 1969 with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. Finally, it should be remembered Into the wild, by Sean Penn from 2007 together with The motorcycle diaries from 2004 inspired by one of Che Guevara's travel diaries in South America.
