{{Short description|Italian film critic and festival curator (born 1953)}} {{Infobox person | image = Stefano Della Casa.jpg | caption = Della Casa in 2008 | birth_date = {{Birth-date and age|25 May 1953}} | birth_place = Turin, Italy | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Film critic | yearsactive = }} '''Stefano "Steve" Della Casa''' (born 25 May 1953) is an Italian film critic, documentarist, essayist and festival curator.
== Life and career == Born in Turin, Della Casa graduated in cinema history under Gianni Rondolino.<ref name="ANSA">{{cite news |title=Stefano Della Casa è il nuovo direttore del Tff |url=https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cultura/cinema/2022/01/12/stefano-della-casa-e-il-nuovo-direttore-del-tff_f572294b-c34d-4a82-bbf3-3cb747cb11e1.html |access-date=6 February 2026 |work=Agenzia ANSA |date=12 January 2022 |language=it}}</ref> In 1974, he co-founded Turin's Movie Club, a major Italian film society, and in 1982, he co-founded the Festival Cinema Giovani, later known as Turin Film Festival.<ref name="ANSA" /> He directed the festival from 1998 to 2002.<ref name="ANSA" /><ref name="variet">{{cite news |last1=Vivarelli |first1=Nick |title=Torino Film Festival Chief Steve Della Casa on Taking the Indie Italian Fest Out of the ‘Arthouse Ghetto’ |url=https://variety.com/2022/film/global/torino-film-festival-chief-steve-della-casa-indie-italian-arthouse-ghetto-1235440633/ |access-date=6 February 2026 |work=Variety |date=23 November 2022}}</ref> After serving as president of the Film Commission Torino Piemonte, he was appointed artistic director of the Rome Film Festival, a position he held from 2007 to 2013.<ref name="ANSA" /> In 2022, Della Casa was appointed president of the Turin Festival for the second time, a role he held for two editions.<ref name="ANSA" /><ref name="variet" /><ref name="sent" /> In 2024, he was named Conservatore of the Cineteca Nazionale.<ref name="sent">{{cite news |last1=Ibraghimova |first1=Ecaterina |title=Steve Della Casa eletto Conservatore della Cineteca Nazionale |url=https://www.sentieriselvaggi.it/steve-della-casa-nuovo-conservatore-dellla-cineteca-nazionale/ |access-date=6 February 2026 |work=Sentieri Selvaggi |date=18 April 2024 |language=it-IT}}</ref>
Della Casa has directed several documentary films; in 2016, he won a Nastro d'Argento for ''I Tarantiniani'', and in 2017, he received a special Nastro d'Argento for ''Perchè sono un genio! Lorenza Mazzetti'' and ''Nessuno ci può giudicare''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nastri d'argento ai documentari, vince Soldini con "Per altri occhi" |url=https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2014/01/31/news/nastri_d_argento_documentari-77411530/ |access-date=6 February 2026 |work=la Repubblica |date=31 January 2014 |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Nastri d’argento: i documentari finalisti |url=https://cinecittanews.it/nastri-d-argento-i-documentari-finalisti/ |access-date=6 February 2026 |work=Cinecittà News |date=15 February 2017 |language=it-IT}}</ref> He wrote numerous film essays, and worked as television and radio writer.<ref name="ANSA" /><ref name="sent" /> He is a professor of film history at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico.<ref name="ANSA" /> == Personal life == Della Casa's nick "Steve" is a reference to sword-and-sandal film star Steve Reeves.<ref>{{cite news |last1=De Rose |first1=Carmela |title=Steve della Casa ritira insieme a Nanni Moretti il Leone D'Oro per il miglior restuaro del film "Ecce bombo" |url=https://www.ilmessaggero.it/spettacoli/cinema/steve_della_casa_nanni_moretti_ecce_bombo-8350253.html |access-date=6 February 2026 |work=Il Messaggero |date=12 September 2024 |language=it}}</ref> He is a Torino FC supporter.<ref name="ANSA" />
== Books == *''Mario Monicelli'' (1986) *''Mario Mattoli'' (1990) *''Riccardo Freda'' (1999) *''Dario Argento, il brivido della critica cinematografica'' (2000) *''Officina torinese. Una passeggiata in cento anni di cinema'' (2000, with Lorenzo Ventavoli) *''Turin, berceau du cinéma italien'' (2001) *''Storia e storie del cinema popolare italiano'' (2001) *''Capitani coraggiosi. Produttori italiani 1945-1975'' (2003) *''La buca di Maspero in Scrittori in curva'' (2009) *''Hollywood sul Tevere'' (2010) *''Il professor matusa e i suoi hippies, Cinema e musica in Italia'' (2011) *''Pop Film Art. Visual culture, moda e design nel cinema italiano anni '60 e '70'' (2012, with Dario Edoardo Viganò) *''Sbatti Bellocchio in sesta pagina'' (2012, with Paolo Manera) *''Il grande libro di Ercole. Il cinema mitologico in Italia'' (2013, with Marco Giusti) *''Spendor'' (2014) *''Dino Risi. Pensieri, parole, immagini'' (2016) *''Acido Fenico, Graphic novel'' (2016, with Giancarlo De Cataldo and Luca Saviotti) *''L'Italia all'Oscar'' (2019, with {{Interlanguage link|Vincenzo Mollica|it}}) *''Menamose'' (2022) *''Argento, due o tre cose che sappiamo di lui'' (2023)
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbera, Alberto }} Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:People from Turin Category:Italian film critics Category:Italian documentary film directors Category:Italian television writers Category:Italian radio writers Category:Italian male essayists Category:Italian essayists Category:Nastro d'Argento winners