Roberto Rossellini

The trilogy consists of "Rome, Open City" (1945), "Paisan" (1946), and "Germany Year Zero" (1948), three films shot in the immediate aftermath of World War II using real locations and many non-professional actors. Together they are considered the foundational works of Italian Neorealism, one of the most influential film movements in cinema history.

Yes, Bergman famously wrote Rossellini a fan letter after seeing his neorealist films, leading to their collaboration on "Stromboli" (1950) and a scandalous affair that ended both their marriages. They married in 1950 and had three children, including the actress and model Isabella Rossellini, before divorcing in 1957.

Shot on the streets of Rome just months after the city's liberation from Nazi occupation, with extremely limited resources and film stock, the film starred Anna Magnani and depicted Italian resistance fighters under German occupation. Its raw, documentary-like approach profoundly influenced filmmakers worldwide, from Satyajit Ray to the French New Wave directors of the late 1950s.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Rossellini largely abandoned feature filmmaking to create didactic historical television films, producing a series of biographical works on figures like Socrates, Augustine of Hippo, Descartes, and Louis XIV. He considered these educational films his most important contribution, though they remain far less known than his neorealist classics.