ferzan özpetek

Ferzan Özpetek (born in Istanbul, 1959) moved to Rome in 1976, where he studied film history at La Sapienza University. He made his directorial debut with Il bagno turco – Hamam (1997), selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. His subsequent films, including Le Fate Ignoranti, La Finestra di Fronte, Saturno Contro, Mine Vaganti, Magnifica Presenza and La Dea Fortuna, achieved major box-office success and earned prestigious awards such as the David di Donatello, Nastri d’Argento, Ciak and Globi d’Oro, establishing him as one of the leading voices of contemporary Italian cinema.
In 2008, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York dedicated a personal retrospective to his work. Alongside cinema, Özpetek has built a significant career in opera, directing productions of Aida, La Traviata and Madama Butterfly, as well as in theatre, adapting and directing stage versions of Mine Vaganti and Magnifica Presenza. His artistic journey also extends to visual art and performance, including the video installation Venetika, presented at the Venice Biennale and later exhibited at MAXXI in Rome.
Özpetek is also an acclaimed novelist, having published four books with Mondadori, the latest being Cuore nascosto (2024), awarded the Flaiano Special International Fiction Prize. In recent years, he has expanded his work to international platforms with Netflix projects such as Nuovo Olimpo and The Istanbul Trilogy. His fifteenth feature film, Diamanti, set in Rome between the present day and the 1970s and featuring an ensemble cast of eighteen Italian actresses, is scheduled for theatrical release in December 2024.