Directors of Mondo Films

Directors Jacopetti and Prosperi led the way to the creation of mondo films , a genre of movies that showed shocking images of international cultures that eventually began to show exploitive material that was close to home. In this article, you will encounter a handful of directors, as well as some of the plots to the mondo film storyline.

The Castiglioni Brothers

Brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni started to make a series of Mondo films in 1969 and continued to create for the genre well into the early 1980s. In total, they released five films and tied the record for the most prolific film producers in the genre with Jacopetti and Prosperi. All of the films by the Castiglioni Brothers concentrated on the horrific and odd behavior that took place on the African continent. The brothers also earned the reputation of putting out the most graphic Mondo films that were ever made.

The Castiglioni Brothers movies include:

·    Africa Segreta (also known as Secret Africa) (1969)
·    Africa Ama (also known as Africa Uncensored) (1971)
·    Magia Nuda (also known as Mondo Magic) (1975)
·    Addio Ultimo Uomo (also known as The Last Savage) (1978)
·    Africa Dolce e Selvaggia (also known as Shocking Africa) (1982)

The Savage Trilogy

Bitten by the Mondo bug, Antonio Climati, who served as a cinematographer to Prosperi and Jacopetti in many Mondo films, decided to team up with Mario Morra in 1974 to put out their own string of Mondo films. This set of movies were called the “Savage Trilogy”. Interestingly, Franco Prosperi also went on to produce these films. The documentaries produced by Climati and Morra were infamous for staging several of the scenes in their films.

The Savage Trilogy consisted of:

Ultime grida dalla savanna (also known as Savage Man Savage Beast) (1975) , The filming for this mondo film took place all over the world and focused on hunting and the connection between animal and man. Various forms of hunting are captured on the film, including how humans and animals can take on the role of prey and predator. The filmmakers claim that the documentation is real, as they show the violent behavior and customs related to the theme. It is a fact that some of the scenes were staged. An example of a scene shown in the film includes a lion attacking a tourist in Namibia, as well as the murder of a man by a group of mercenaries in South America. Both scenes gained acclaim because they were purportedly genuine footage of human death.

Savana violenta (also known as This Violent World) (1976) , This film offered more scenes of graphic behavior regarding the kinds of violent acts that take place around the world.

Dolce e selvaggio (also known as Sweet and Savage) (1983) , Human death was once again a focus of the third installment of the Savage Trilogy, which had a staged scene that showed a man tied t two trucks that ripped his arms from his body. Authentic scenes in the film included a Tibetan corpse being hacked apart by monks, who then fed the body to vultures. Accidental deaths were also captured on film.