ROME — Renowned actor Franco Nero collected the career award, but most trophies at Rome’s Premio Bolognini on October 25 went to people audiences rarely see. Makeup, costumes, stunts, dubbing, and camera equipment all took prizes at the fifth edition.
“The film crew is the backbone of a shoot, nothing happens without them,” said Matthew Gentile, an Italian-American director and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. “When people often say that 90% of a director’s job is casting, they usually think that means the actors. But it also means the crew that you hire, every position from number one on the call sheet to the production assistant.”
Italians call them the maestranze (the skilled crews and craftspeople behind a film). Artistic director Carlotta Bolognini, daughter of producer Manolo Bolognini, said she wants to “shine a light on those who, today, continue to make cinema with the same extraordinary passion and dedication”.
Actress Simona Cavallari, honoured too, also explained the importance of the awards. “Think of the costume designer, who has to give you a different image and, with her choices, helps you create the character,” she said. “There are people who take obsessive care, even in simply handing you a notebook.”
Light and continuity
Technology, the winners said, changed tools, not the job. “I am in love with analogue, but the new digital cameras give you great possibilities,” said Roberto Girometti, director of photography, who insists on colour correction done “as if it were analogue.”
Cinematographer Nino Celeste was blunter. “What matters is knowing exactly what to do, knowing the screenplay and lighting according to the screenplay,” he said.
Elide Cortesi, a segretaria di edizione (script supervisor), agreed. “Computers make the work easier, but in reality the work is always the same,” she said. “We must always keep the continuity of a film.” Makeup artist Luigi Rocchetti instead says he accepts digital effects, within limits. “When everything becomes artificial, it becomes wrong,” he said.
Craft and memory
Costume designer Maurizio Millenotti, Emmy nominated in 2024 for Ripley, was honoured alongside Rome equipment company Fratelli Cartocci and Chiara Colizzi, a regular Italian voice of Nicole Kidman. Also celebrated was stuntman and fight master Massimo Vanni worked on Keoma, the 1976 western starring Nero, filmed on the Camposecco plateau in Lazio.
Nero attended the event also in honour of a person he said was “a friend”.
“Manolo Bolognini was a great friend of mine,” he said. “We made five films together.”
A video tribute marked new commemorative crosses for Manolo Bolognini, Nero, and screenwriter George Eastman at Sad Hill, the cemetery set built in 1966 in Spain for Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Directors Matteo Garrone and Stefano Reali and actor Kim Rossi Stuart also won.
“So many key people on a crew get overlooked for their efforts, so it’s wonderful to see an award recognizing them and giving them their due,” Matthew Gentile said.
Nero’s advice instead to young filmmakers, after more than 60 years in film, was simple. “Study, never think you have arrived,” he said. “You must always study and improve.”
