Giovanni Scognamillo

Giovanni Scognamillo — Biography

Giovanni Scognamillo (25 April 1929, Istanbul – 8 October 2016, Istanbul) was a Turkish writer, film historian, critic and academic from an Italian Levantine family. His father descended from a Neapolitan immigrant and his mother from Genoese settlers of Tinos; because his father Leone managed the prestigious Elhamra Cinema in Beyoğlu, Scognamillo was exposed to cinema from an early age. After studying at the Liceo Italiano, he began writing about film for Italian-language publications before moving into the Turkish press from 1961 onward.

Beyond his landmark history of Turkish cinema, Scognamillo also wrote on fantastique literature and occultism, occasionally appeared as an actor in Turkish films, and worked in fields as varied as banking, advertising, interior decoration and bookselling. His life was the subject of the documentary “Beyoğlu'nda Bir Levanten: Giovanni Scognamillo,” and he was portrayed as a character in Yıldıray Çınar's graphic novel Karabasan.

Since his death, Scognamillo has continued to be honored as a central figure of Turkish film memory, with tributes including a Pera Museum exhibition and an award bearing his name.