Kapo (1960 film)

Kapò
Italian film poster
Directed by	Gillo Pontecorvo
Screenplay by	Franco Solinas Gillo Pontecorvo
Produced by	Franco Cristaldi Moris Ergas
Starring	Susan Strasberg Laurent Terzieff Emmanuelle Riva Didi Perego Gianni Garko Annabella Besi Graziella Galvani
Cinematography	Aleksandar Sekulović
Edited by	Roberto Cinquini
Music by	Carlo Rustichelli
Production company	Cineriz Vides Cinematografica Zebra Films Francinex Lovcen Film
Distributed by	Cineriz (Italy)
Release dates	7 September 1960 (1960-09-07) (Venice) 29 September 1960 (1960-09-29) (Italy)[1] 22 November 1960 (1960-11-22) (Yugoslavia) 26 April 1961 (1961-04-26) (France)
Running time	116 minutes
Countries	Italy France Yugoslavia[2]
Language	Italian

Kapò (Italian: [kaˈpɔ]) is a 1960 historical war drama film directed and co-written by Gillo Pontecorvo. It was one of the first narrative films to deal explicitly with the subject of the Holocaust, with graphic depictions of concentration camps which made it controversial at the time. A co-production of Italian, French, and Yugoslavian companies, the film stars American actress Susan Strasberg, along with Laurent Terzieff, Emmanuelle Riva, Didi Perego and Gianni Garko. The title refers to a prisoner functionary in the Nazi concentration camps.

The film premiered at the 21st Venice International Film Festival, and was released to Italian theatres on September 29, 1960. It received mixed reviews from critics. While some praised the filmmaking, others, particularly Jacques Rivette, criticized Pontecorvo's decision to dramatize the Holocaust, unprecedented at the time. In the United States, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film.^[3]