VANCINI, FLORESTANO

(1926-)

Director and screenwriter. Beginning in 1949, Vancini directed some 40 documentaries and worked as assistant director toMario SoldatiandValerio Zurlinibefore making an impressive directorial debut in 1960 withLa lunga notte del '43(Long Night in 1943). Adapted from a novel by Giorgio Bassani that recounted the events surrounding a massacre by the Fascists in Ferrara during World War II,La lunga nottewas awarded the prize for Best First Film at theVenice Festival. Then, following the crime dramaLa banda Casaroli(The Casaroli Gang, 1962) andLa calda vita(The Warm Life, 1963), Vancini used the pseudonym Stan Vance to make a foray into theWesternall'italianawithI lunghi giorni della vendetta(Long Days of Vengeance, 1967).He returned to a more socially committed cinema withLa violenza:Quintopotere(The Sicilian Checkmate, 1972), which used the format of the courtroom drama to investigate the links between illegal power networks in Sicily, andBronte, cronaca di un massacro che i libri di storia non hanno raccontato(Liberty, 1972), a fictional re-creation of a brutal reprisal carried out by the northern Italian forces during theRisorgimentoperiod. This was followed by another attempted historical reconstruction inIl delitto Matteotti(The Assassination of Matteotti, 1973) before a turn to an exploration of familial and interpersonal relationships inAmore amaro(Bitter Love, 1974) andUn dramma borghese(Mimi, 1979). Vancini subsequently worked mostly for television, directing, among others, the second run of the very popular long-running series on the Mafia,La Piovra(Octopus, 1985), and the miniseriesPiazza di Spagna(1993).