Palme d'Or laureate Ermanno Olmi dead at 86

YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Italian film director Ermanno Olmi has passed away at the age of 86, ANSA reported.

Perhaps his best known film isThe Tree of Wooden Clogs(L'Albero degli zoccoli), which was awarded thePalme d'Orat the1978 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1988, hisLa leggenda del santo bevitore(The Legend of the Holy Drinker), based on the novella byJoseph Rothand starringRutger Hauer, won theGolden Lionat theVenice Film Festivalas well as aDavid di Donatelloaward.

In 2008 Olmi received the HonoraryGolden Lionat theVenice Film Festival.

Olmi was born inBergamo,Lombardy in 1931.

The exact cause of death is not know, but Olmi had reportedly been ill for some time.

Olmi died in a hospital in Asiago, Northern Italy.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan