Prepare for a visual feast as distinguished movies directed by Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci will be screened in Hong Kong next month.
Curated by Law Wai-ming, the retrospective Bernardo Bertolucci is part of the Year of Italy in China 2006 celebration.
The selection includes Bertolucci's early work, such as debut The Grim Reaper (1962); award-winning The Conformist (1970), Last Tango in Paris (1972) and The Last Emperor (1987); Luna (1979), and Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981).
Born in Parma, Bertolucci had planned to be a poet and published an anthology which won a national award. But a chance to work with legendary director Pier Paola Pasolini helped him start a film career at the age of 21.
Bertolucci's works are defined by tragedy. They portray the agony, madness and degeneration of self-imposed exiles.
Opening film The Conformist won Bertolucci the best director award at the Venice Film Festival in 1970.
He then won the best director award at the 1974 Oscars with the erotic Last Tango in Paris, starring Marlon Brando.