Francesco Maselli

Francesco Maselli (9 December 1930 – 21 March 2023), also known as Citto Maselli, was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born into a well-educated family—his father was an art critic—originally from the Molise region, Maselli graduated from the Italian National Film School in 1949. He began his career as an assistant and assistant director for Luigi Chiarini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Luchino Visconti. After directing several short documentary and fiction films, he made his feature film debut with the World War II drama *Abandoned* (1955), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Following a series of minor films, Maselli achieved greater success with *Silver Spoon Set* (1960, also titled *The Dolphins*) and *Time of Indifference* (1964), an adaptation of a novel by Alberto Moravia.

In the 1970s, Maselli turned to openly left-wing political films, including *Open Letter to a newspaper of the evening* (1970) and *The Suspect* (1975). In the 1980s, he shifted to more intimate films centered on female protagonists, such as *A Tale of Love* (1986) and *The Secret* (1990).

In 2021, Maselli was honored with a retrospective at the Venice Film Festival, where many of his films had premiered. He died in Rome on 21 March 2023, at the age of 92.