Francesca Archibugi

Francesca Archibugi is an Italian actress, director, and writer. In the 1970s, she acted in a handful of films, though it would be her work behind the camera where Archibugi would flourish. She attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Cinecittà in Rome, studying filmmaking, and directed a number of short films in the early 1980s. Her feature film debut as a writer and director, "Mignon Has Come to Stay," is a naturalistic study of a teenage girl from a rich French family who causes turmoil when she moves in with her poorer Italian relatives. Like many of Archibugi's work, the film is both a character study and an examination of socio-political conflict. "Mignon Has Come to Stay" would go on to win a number of prestigious film prizes. Her next film, "Towards Evening," starring the legendary Marcello Mastroianni and Sandrine Bonnaire, also garnered considerable praise and was likewise a success critically. "The Great Pumpkin," her 1993 film about a child psychiatrist, solidified her reputation as one of Italy's most important directors, and was viewed by many critics as her best work up to that point. Keeping with her interest in chronicling modern Italian life, Archibugi's 2001 film "Tomorrow" focused on how the disastrous 1997 Umbrian earthquake affects a number of people.