Biography
Vincenzo Cerami was an Italian screenwriter, novelist and poet. Born in Rome in 1940, he died there in 2013. He studied under Pier Paolo Pasolini at middle school in Ciampino and later assisted on Pasolini’s films, including Comizi d’amore (1965) and Uccellacci e uccellini (1966).
Cerami wrote or co-wrote screenplays for more than 40 films from 1967 onwards. His first novel, Un borghese piccolo piccolo (1976), was adapted for the screen by Mario Monicelli in 1977. He maintained a long collaboration with Roberto Benigni, co-writing Il piccolo diavolo (1988), Johnny Stecchino (1991), Il mostro (1994), La vita è bella (Life Is Beautiful, 1997), Pinocchio (2002) and La tigre e la neve (2005).
Cerami and Benigni received an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay for Life Is Beautiful, which won the Oscar for best foreign language film. He was also nominated for a BAFTA and won several Italian awards, including David di Donatello and Silver Ribbon prizes for the film.
