RIP Andrea Crisanti

Italian production designer and art director Andrea Crisanti died today May 7^th in Italy. Crisanti studied Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. He began his film career as assistant set designer to Mario Garbuglia by working on the set of “The Great War” (1959) with Mario Monicelli. Then he worked with other set designers. He debuted in “Maciste in Hell” (1962) by Riccardo Freda, before working both in cinema and theatre. He found the crowning point in his career in 1970 with Francesco Rosi. He designed the scenes of “Cinema Paradiso” (1988) and “A Pure Formality” (1994) by Giuseppe Tornatore, which won a David di Donatello Award. Sicily was one of his favorite places, and he recalled the pomp of seventeenth century Bourbon period for the set of “The Council of Egypt” (2002) by Emidio Greco. Crisanti worked for Franzo Zeffirelli on “Young Toscanini” in 1988, Gianni Amelio on “The Stolen Children” in 1992, Michelangelo Antonioni on “Identification of a Woman” in 1982, Andrej Tarkovskij on “Nostalghia” in 1983 and as Art Director on Sergio Leone’s “Duck You Sucker” (1971). Crisanti had been teaching art at Rome's Experimental Cinematography Centre since 1995 and was president of A.S.C., Set and Costume Designers Association.