Born in Bologna in 1926 and dying in Rome in 1982, Valerio Zurlini made only seven features. His films are elegiac, melancholic stories of love, memory and loss, and show an influence of the French new wave and of Visconti. Violent Summer (1959) is set in 1943 Rimini, Girl with a Suitcase (1961) with Claudia Cardinale is a story of a showgirl abandoned by her lover, and Family Diary (1962) won the Golden Lion at Venice. The Desert of the Tartars (1976) is an adaptation of Dino Buzzati's novel.
Filmography
- Violent Summer (1959)
- Girl with a Suitcase (1961)
- Family Diary (1962)
- The Desert of the Tartars (1976)