Gillo Pontecorvo
Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006) was an Italian director and screenwriter best known for one of the most politically influential features in the history of cinema. After Resistance activity and a period as a foreign correspondent, he turned to filmmaking in the 1950s and produced a small but extraordinary body of features. His Battle of Algiers, made with non-professional actors and shot in the streets of Algiers a few years after the Algerian war of independence, has been studied as a model of both political cinema and insurgent strategy. His acclaimed films include Kapò, The Battle of Algiers, Burn!, and Operation Ogro.