Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass has died in Rome at the age of 93, his family announced on Wednesday. Known for provocative, transgressive films, he directed works including Salon Kitty, Caligula, The Key and Paprika.
Born Giovanni Brass in Milan in 1932, he studied law and worked in the archives of the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. He later gained experience as an assistant director to Roberto Rossellini and Alberto Cavalcanti. Brass made his feature debut with Chi lavora è perduto (In capo al mondo), which was well received at the 1963 Venice Film Festival. Its experimental approach marked the start of his career in the European avant-garde.
His early films included the western Yankee (1966), the thriller Deadly Sweet (1967), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, and The Howl (1970). That period also included Dropout, which the jury named the best Italian film in the 1970 Venice Film Festival competition.
Brass turned toward erotic cinema in the mid-1970s. Among his best-known films are Salon Kitty (1976) and Caligula (1979), the latter starring Malcolm McDowell as the Roman emperor. The film was released in a version that Brass disowned after producer Bob Guccione re-edited it without the director’s approval. Its 2023 restoration, Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, was assembled by film writer and historian Thomas Negovan, who reviewed 97 hours of original footage preserved in Penthouse archives.
Brass continued making erotic films after Caligula, including The Key (1983), Miranda (1985), Paprika (1991), The Voyeur (1994), Monella (1998) and Black Angel (2002). The Key was temporarily seized by an Italian court after its release because of its erotic scenes.
Sources: El País Cultura.