Matteo Garrone was born in Rome in 1968. He is the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone, and a photographer. In 1996 he won the Sacher d'Oro, an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film Silhouette (1996), that became one of the three episodes of his first feature film Terra di mezzo (1996). He won Best Director at the European Film Awards and at the David di Donatello Awards for Gomorra (2008). His film Reality (2012) competed in competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix. His latest film Il racconto dei racconti - Tale of Tales (2015) was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.