Nelo Risi

Nelo Risi (21 April 1920 – 17 September 2015) was an Italian poet, film director, translator and screenwriter, nephew of cinematographer Fernando Risi and younger brother of director Dino Risi.

Biography Born in Milan, Risi graduated in medicine, as did his brother Dino, then with the outbreak of the Second World War he fought on the Russian front and was interned in Switzerland. During this time Risi also published his second collection of poems (L'esperienza, 1948) and worked as a translator of poetry works by Pierre Jean Jouve, Constantine P. Cavafy, Sophocles, Jules Laforgue and others.

Back in Italy in 1954, he directed a dozen documentary films on popular figures and moments in the history of the twentieth century. In 1970 he also won the Viareggio Prize for his poetry collection Di certe cose che dette in versi suonano meglio che in prosa. His poetry style is referred as "poetics of the usual" (poetica dell'usuale), in reference of the attempt of grasping the contradictions and the mystifications of everyday life through a basic, simple language, close to a diaristic style.

Selected filmography Andremo in città (1966) Diary of a Schizophrenic Girl (1968) Dead of Summer (1970) A Season in Hell (1971) The Infamous Column (1973)