On Friday 7 February, from 8.30 pm, a double screening of the films Chi sei? (1974) by Ovidio G. Assonitis and Stridulum (1979) by Giulio Paradisi is presented. For the occasion, the independent director and producer Ovidio G. Assonitis is the protagonist of a conversation with Manlio Gomarasca.
BIOGRAPHY
Director, film producer, entrepreneur, Ovidio G. Assonitis was born in Alexandria, Egypt. From the 1970s to the 2000s he financed and produced around fifty-three films, working with small and large production companies such as American International Pictures, Film Ventures International, Trans World Entertainment, Nippon Herald Films Inc, Cannon Film and Toho-Towa. In 1974, he made his directorial debut with the cult film Chi sei?, achieving extraordinary box-office success. This triumph was followed by other highly successful films with major international casts such as Tentacoli (1977), Stridulum (1979) and Madhouse (1981). In 1982, he produced Piranha Paura, a film that launched the career of director James Cameron. Among the many other films he oversaw the production of are: L’ultima neve di primavera (1973), Energia pulita (1986), La fattoria maledetta (1987), Il dono del silenzio (1989), Curse II: the Bite (1989), Lambada (1990), Sulla strada, a mezzanotte (1990). In 2024 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sitges festival in Spain.