RULLI, STEFANO

(1949-)

Film historian and screenwriter. After convening a historic conference onneorealismat the Pesaro Young Cinema Festival in 1974, Rulli collaborated withMarco Bellocchio, Silvano Agosti, andSandro Petragliain writing and directingNessuno o tutti—Matti da slegare(Fit to Be Untied, 1975), a three-hourdocumentaryon Italian mental asylums, andLa macchina cinema(The Cinema Machine, 1979), a five-part television documentary on the seamier aspects of the Italian film industry.He subsequently teamed up regularly with Petraglia to write several popular television series, including the long-runningLa piovra(Octopus, 1987-1994) and many of the key films made by the directors of the so-calledNew Italian Cinema, among themDaniele Luchetti'sIlportaborse(The Yes Man, 1991) andGianni Amelio'sIl ladro di bambini(The Stolen Children, 1992). Together Rulli and Petraglia achieved their greatest success scriptingMarco Tullio Giordana's six-hour epic,La meglio gioventu(The Best of Youth, 2003), for which they received both theDavid di Donatelloand theNastro d'argento. In 2004 Rulli's ownUn silenzio particolare(A Particular Silence), a documentary fiction about autism, was awarded the prize for digital film at theVenice Festival. Rulli has since collaborated once again with Petraglia on the screenplays of Giordana'sQuando sei nato non puoi piu nasconderti(Once You're Born You Can No Longer Hide, 2005) and Michele Placido'sRomanzo criminale(Crime Novel, 2005), the latter earning them both another David di Donatello award.