Sergio Citti, 1933 - 2005.

Sergio Citti, an Italian director and writer best known for his work with the late Pier Paolo Pasolini, died in a hospital near Rome on Tuesday, health officials said. He was 72.

The AP.

Pasolini was to be brought to trial many times for his work as a writer and film director - and organized gangs of homophobic fascist youth frequently attacked the cinemas showing his films (and the cinema-goers).

It was at this time that Pier Paolo became friends with an 18-year-old working-class house painter, Sergio Citti, who helped him with the Roman slum dialect that peppered Ragazzi di Vita and its 1959 sequel, Una Via Violenta, or A Violent Life. (Sergio eventually became an assistant director and co-scenarist on many Pasolini films, and a successful scenarist and film director in his own right - today he's considered the only legitimate heir of Pasolini's cinematic style.) Pasolini also enlisted Sergio Citti's help when he wrote the Roman dialogue for Fellini's classic 1957 film, Nights of Cabiria, the story of an aging prostitute.

Doug Ireland, ZNet.

Posted by dwhudson at October 11, 2005 9:53 AM