After working in journalism, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani made their directorial film debut with Joris Ivens' L'Italia non è un paese povero (1960). Their first independently directed film was I sovversivi (1967), which heralded the events of 1968, followed by the box office hits Sotto il segno dello scorpione (1969), Allonsanfan (1974), La notte di San Lorenzo (1982), working with Gian Maria Volontè, Marcello Mastroianni and Omero Antonutti. Padre padrone (1977) earned them the Palma d'Oro at Cannes. La masseria delle allodole (2007), about the Armenian massacre by the Turks, is their most recent film.After working as sculptor, screenplay writer and film critic, Valentino Orsini made his directorial film debut with the documentary San Miniato: luglio 1944 (1954). Jointly with the Taviani brothers, he directed the features Un uomo da bruciare (1962), I fuorilegge del matrimonio (1963), and then alone I dannati delle terra (1969), Corbari (1970), Uomini e no (1980), with a preference for controversial subjects. For many years he taught at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. He died in 2001.
