Bernardo Bertolucci was born in Italy on March 16, 1941. He began making 16mm short films in high school and majored in contemporary literature at the University of Rome. He was an admirer of French directors such as Jean-Luc Godard. Through his poet father's introduction, he served as assistant director to Pasolini, and at the age of 22, he made his directorial debut with "The Killing" (1962). The film was highly acclaimed at the Venice Film Festival and brought him worldwide recognition. His early works often focused on the "left" movement that flourished in postwar Europe. His most notable work is "The Night Before the Revolution" (1964), which depicts a bourgeois youth who sympathizes with Communism but is unable to take the final step to commit himself to the revolutionary movement. The bold sexual content of "Last Tango in Paris" (1972) sparked debate over whether it was pornography or art.

The Last Emperor (1987), which depicts the last emperor of China, Puyi, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. This film, along with The Sheltering Sky (1990) and Little Buddha (1993), are known as the Oriental Trilogy.

After releasing The Dreamers in 2003, he was even prepared to retire due to a serious illness, but last year he released his first new film in 10 years, Lonely Angels, which attracted a lot of attention.