From the original Babylon press pack:
Director and Co-writer,
FRANCO ROSSO
Born in 1942 in Italy with Italian parents, FRANCO ROSSO grew up in London, completing his education at the Camberwell Art School and the Royal College of Art. He considers England his home, but not his native land. An attitude which has given him rare sympathy and understanding with minority groups in general, immigrant minority groups in particular. This has been reflected in his films like ‘House on the Hill’, the story of a black borstal boy which caused a storm of controversy when it was banned by ATV, ‘Black and Blue’ and ‘Dread Beat and Blood’, his sensitive Omnibus documentary about reggae poet Lynton [sic] Kwesi Johnson, which gained the attention of the national press when its showing was postponed until after last year’s General Election. Apparently, the BBC felt the film was politically biased. When, finally, ‘Dread Beat and Blood’ was allowed on the airwaves it received high praise from television critics.
With ‘Babylon’, FRANCO ROSSO is bringing to the screen a story he has waited five years to film. The story has undergone changes in the meantime because situations change. Like all Rosso’ s work, ‘Babylon’ is realistic and uncompromising. “As a film-maker I believe my first job is to entertain, but I also believe in filming things the way they are. ‘Babylon’ is fiction, a story, but it is a story that could happen and the situations are entirely real”.
Aside from writing and directing, ROSSO works consistently as a film editor. He was assistant to Ken Loach on ‘Kes’ and in the past few years has edited a prodigious number of television documentaries. His other directorial credits include ‘Dream Weaver’ , a 50 minute drama which received awards at Chicago and Mannheim, promotional films for John Lennon, a film on Stephen Stills, ‘Mangrove Nine’, ‘History of Black Music, for VPS and ‘Target’ which he co-wrote with Martin Stellman for the BBC last year.
See also:
Franco Rosso interviewed by ‘New Britain’ ‘zine