Ferzan Özpetek (born 3 February 1959) is a Turkish-Italian film director and screenwriter, residing in Italy.

Biography

Ferzan Özpetek was born in Istanbul in 1959. In 1976, he decided to move to Italy to study Cinema History at Sapienza University of Rome. He completed his education attending art history and costume design classes at the Navona Academy. He also attended director classes at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art.

After receiving stage experience with Julian Beck's Living Theatre, he moved to the cinema landscape, by working as a director assistant to Massimo Troisi, Maurizio Ponzi, Ricky Tognazzi, Sergio Citti and Francesco Nuti. His first work was as Troisi's assistant director for Scusate il ritardo, followed by Ponzi's Sono contento, where he had a small role performing as a “madonnaro".

His directorial debut was with Hamam, an Italia…Read more on Wikipedia