{{Short description|Argentine dramatist, painter, and art director}} {{Infobox person | image = | image_size = | name = Eugenio Zanetti | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|10|19}} | birth_place = [[Córdoba, Argentina]] | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = {{hlist|Dramatist|painter|art director|opera director|set and production designer}} | years_active = 1974–present }} '''Eugenio Zanetti''' (born October 19, 1949) is an Argentine dramatist, painter, film [[set design]]er, and theater and [[opera director]]. He won an [[Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]] in 1995, for the film ''[[Restoration (1995 film)|Restoration]]''.
== Biography == Zanetti was born in [[Córdoba, Argentina|Córdoba]]. After travelling to Europe in the mid 60's and meeting [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]], he participated in the latter's film version of ''[[Medea (1969 film)|Medea]]''.<ref>[http://negrowhite.net/cine/eugenio-zanetti-mas-alla-del-oscar Eugenio Zanetti, beyond the Oscar] Negro & White {{in lang|es}}</ref> After his father died, he returned to his country to help his family{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}}. He became involved in the [[cinema of Argentina]], and provided set designs for [[Mario Sábato]]'s ''[[The Power of Darkness (1979 film)|The Power of Darkness]]'' (1979), for which he won a [[Moscow Film Festival]] Award for Design, and [[Alejandro Doria]]'s ''[[Los Pasajeros del jardín]]'' (1982).
During the [[Falklands War|Malvinas/Falklands War]] he relocated to [[Los Angeles]], and began a career in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] working as the [[production designer]] for [[Wayne Wang]] in ''[[Slam Dance (film)|Slam Dance]]'' (1987).<ref>[http://edant.clarin.com/diario/96/11/11/zanetti.htm ''Clarín'' (11 Nov 1996)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234617/http://edant.clarin.com/diario/96/11/11/zanetti.htm |date=3 March 2016 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref> Zanetti created set designs for ''[[Some Girls (film)|Some Girls]]'' (1988), for which he won a [[Toronto International Film Festival|Toronto Festival of Festivals]] Design Award, ''[[Flatliners]]'' (1990), ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' (1993), ''[[Soapdish]]'' (1991), and ''[[Restoration (1995 film)|Restoration]]'' (1995), for which he earned an [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Academy Award for Best Art Direction]].<ref name="Oscars1996">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1996 |title=The 68th Academy Awards (1996) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2011-08-05|work=oscars.org}}</ref> He also designed set for ''[[What Dreams May Come (film)|What Dreams May Come]]'' (1998), ''[[The Haunting (1999 film)|The Haunting]]'' (1999), [[Alfonso Arau]]'s ''[[Zapata: El sueño de un héroe]]'' (2004), and [[Roland Joffé]]'s ''[[There Be Dragons]]'' (2011), among others. He returned to Argentine film in 2008, when he joined the production of Jorge Rodríguez's ''Árbol de fuego''.<ref>[http://www.grupopayne.com.ar/archivo/04/0410/041008/etc.html Grupo Payne: Se filmará en la provincia una super producción] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706081435/http://www.grupopayne.com.ar/archivo/04/0410/041008/etc.html |date=2011-07-06 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref> Ultimately, ''Árbol de fuego'' was not made into a film.
Zanetti's more than 40 theater and opera productions in Europe and South America include: ''[[A Masked Ball]]'' and ''[[Nabucco]]'' by [[Giuseppe Verdi]], and ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'' and ''[[Tosca]]'' by [[Giacomo Puccini]]. He also had a successful career as Director of Musicals, receiving the Thalia Award (equivalent to the [[Tony Award]]) in Argentina for his local productions of ''[[They're Playing Our Song]]'', ''[[Chicago (play)|Chicago]]'' and ''[[Dracula (1996 play)|Dracula]]'' as a director, and the same award for his adaptation of [[Philippa Gregory]]'s ''The White Queen''. He also earned a Star of the Sea Award for ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'', ''[[Chapter Two (play)|Chapter Two]]'', ''Company'', and ''[[Peer Gynt]]''.
In 2014 he released his first film as writer and director, ''[[Amapola (2014 film)|Amapola]]'', a [[fantasy film|fantasy]] [[drama film]] starring [[Camilla Belle]], [[François Arnaud (actor)|François Arnaud]], [[Geraldine Chaplin]], [[Leonor Benedetto]], [[Lito Cruz]] and [[Elena Roger]].
==Production designer credits== * ''[[Amapola (2014 film)|Amapola]]'' (2014) (Also credited as writer and director) * ''[[The Haunting (1999 film)|The Haunting]]'' (1999) * ''[[What Dreams May Come (film)|What Dreams May Come]]'' (1998) * ''[[Restoration (1995 film)|Restoration]]'' (1995) * ''[[Tall Tale (film)|Tall Tale]]'' (1995) * ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' (1993) * ''[[Soapdish]]'' (1991) * ''[[Flatliners]]'' (1990) * ''[[Promised Land (1987 film)|Promised Land]]'' (1987) * ''[[The Power of Darkness (1979 film)|The Power of Darkness]]'' (1979)
==Influences==
Zanetti was interviewed by novelist, travel writer and critic, [[Jason Webster (author)|Jason Webster]] for [[The Idries Shah Foundation]] in London, on 29 August 2017. In the filmed interview, Zanetti was asked about the impact that the [[Sufism|Sufi]] [[Mysticism|mystical]] tradition and the writer, thinker and Sufi teacher, [[Idries Shah]], whose work he discovered in the 1960s,<ref name="Sabiduría encapsulada">{{cite web | author = Staff | title = Sabiduría encapsulada | language= es | trans-title = Encapsulated Wisdom | publisher = [[The Idries Shah Foundation]] | date = 18 November 2017 | url = https://idriesshahfoundation.org/es/sabiduria-encapsulada/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180925131821/https://idriesshahfoundation.org/es/sabiduria-encapsulada/ | archive-date = 25 September 2018 | url-status = live | access-date = 25 September 2018}}</ref> had had on his life.<ref name="ISF interview">{{cite interview | last = Zanetti | first = Eugenio | interviewer = Jason Webster | title = Interview With Eugenio Zanetti | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kLtFX0triA | publisher = [[The Idries Shah Foundation]] | location = London | date = 29 August 2017 | type = video | access-date = 25 September 2018 }}</ref> Zanetti said that for the past fifty years, since the age of nineteen, he had been interested and influenced by Sufism; that the impact of "the Tradition" on him had been immense, and that Idries Shah had put in context an "enormous amount of knowledge", of "incredible depth".<ref name="ISF interview" /> He added that the full, cultural impact of the [[:Category:Shah family|Shah family]]'s work in the tradition, including that of Zanetti's friend, film writer [[Arif Ali-Shah]], will only become recognized and known with the passage of time, in years to come.<ref name="ISF interview" />
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|952968}}
{{AcademyAwardBestArtDirection 1981–2000}} {{Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zanetti, Eugenio}} [[Category:1949 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People from Córdoba, Argentina]] [[Category:Argentine people of Italian descent]] [[Category:National University of Córdoba alumni]] [[Category:Argentine theatre directors]] [[Category:Argentine art directors]] [[Category:Best Production Design Academy Award winners]]