Ermanno Olmi

Ermanno Olmi born July 24 1931 in Bergamo Lombardy was a renowned Italian film director Olmis films have been described as humanistic and reflective portraying everyday people in particular landscapes and locations while at the same time being charged with social comment and poetic flashes His films fit into the artistic mold of Italian neorealism though Olmi argued in an interview found on the Criterion Edition DVD of his 1961 film Il Posto that this was the artistic tradition he was responding against because he used nonactors in authentic locations whereas neorealism he claimed used professional actors However many neorealist directors also used nonprofessional actors for secondary and sometimes even primary roles His films like most of those considered to be products of the neorealist movement are shot in long slow takes and generally contain some sort of social commentary