After studying at the Dramatic Art Academy of Milan and the Experimental Cinema Centre, Marco Bellocchio directed his first feature film in 1965, acclaimed by the critics. Breaking with neo-realism, his politically-engaged works attack the Italian symbols of conformism; after his cult movie, Fists in the Pockets - manifesto of a youth in revolt - he denounces religion with In the Name of the Father (1971), and the army with Victory March (1976). Along with Michel Piccoli and Anouk Aimée, he won two Best Actor awards for A Leap in the Dark (1980) at Cannes. He then passes from films deemed “subversive” like Devil in the Flesh which sparked a scandal at Cannes in 1986, to literary adaptations such as The Nanny (1999) from Pirandello. Marco Bellocchio criticizes the Catholic Church with My Mother’s Smile, selected by Cannes in 2002. And he was the first to speak out about the assassination of Aldo Moro with Good Morning, Night, screened at the Venice Festival in 2003 and unanimously hailed by critics worldwide. In 2009 Bellocchio was the only Italian director present at Cannes festival in competition with his latest work Vincere.