Ferzan Zpetek

Passions

Vocation

Notable

Turkish film director and screenwriter, residing in Italy; who also has Italian citizenship. His directorial debut was with Hamam (1997), an Italian, Spanish and Turkish co-production, presented at the 50th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in the Quinzaine des Realisateurs session. The movie was presented in other international festivals and was sold for distribution in more than 20 countries around the world. In 1999, he directed Harem Suare, set in his native land of Turkey, telling the tormented love story between the sultan’s favourite, Safiye, and the eunuch Nadir, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the background. In 2001, Özpetek directed His Secret Life (Le Fate Ignoranti), starring Margherita Buy and Stefano Accorsi, a drama about homosexuality and bonding and friendship of several kinds of outsiders. The movie won numerous awards including three Globo d'oro and four Nastro d'Argento awards. Facing Windows (La finestra di fronte) (2003) was his next film which turned out to be his last performance on film. The film won multiple awards including: five David di Donatello, four Ciak d’Oro and three Globo d'oro awards. In 2008, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, dedicated a retrospective on him, screening all of his movies. He has been one of the few Italian directors to be given this honour. His film Mine Vaganti (2010) is a comedy concerning the family issues of a household in Lecce. This is one of the few movies Özpetek has set outside Rome, a city very close to his heart. Link to Wikipedia biography