Bernardo Bertolucci was an iconic Italian film director. Born into an intellectual family, he showed an early interest in the world of cinema, making his first short films when he was only 15 years old. He began his film career as an assistant director to Pier Paolo Pasolini, then went on to work on his first feature film, The Grim Reaper (1962). In 1964, his second feature Before the Revolution gained recognition at the Cannes Film Festival. He then released his acclaimed consecutive films The Spider’s Stratagem (1970) and The Conformist (1970). The creator of more than two dozen films, Bertolucci received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for Last Tango in Paris (1972), which became an international sensation. His 1987 film The Last Emperor won nine Academy Awards.