Biography
Vincenzo Cerami was an Italian screenwriter, novelist and poet. Born in Rome in 1940, he studied at a scientific institute before renewing contact with his former schoolteacher Pier Paolo Pasolini, for whom he worked as an assistant director on films including Comizi d'amore (1965) and The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966).
Cerami wrote or co-wrote screenplays for more than 40 films from 1967 onwards. He collaborated extensively with director Roberto Benigni on six features, among them The Little Devil (1988), Johnny Stecchino (1991), The Monster (1994), Life Is Beautiful (1997), Pinocchio (2002) and The Tiger and the Snow (2005). He and Benigni received an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay for Life Is Beautiful. His first novel, Un borghese piccolo piccolo (1976), was adapted for the screen by Mario Monicelli the following year. Cerami died in Rome in 2013.
