Attilio Gatti

Attilio Gatti, born in Italy in 1896, lived a picturesque life full of different countries and experiences.After serving in World War I, doctor's orders for a cure of the tuberculosis he had contracted took him to Egypt, where he became infatuated with Africa and would later direct,in 1927, one of the first films with an all black cast.He landed up amassing a collection of 40,000 photographs and writing 30 books. As another World War approached, he relocated to Vermont where he worked for Hallicrafters, a Chicago based designer of scientific vehicles that could be used to shoot films with.In the post World War II era, he worked on documentaries for the Encyclopedia Brittanica and for American studios like Warner Brothers.He then retired in the 1960s to Lugano, Switzerland, where he died in 1969.