Otello (1986 film) Otello (1986 film) Otello is a 1986 film based on the Giuseppe Verdi opera of the same name, which was itself based on the Shakespearean play "Othello". The film was directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starred Plácido Domingo in the title role, Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona and Justino Díaz as Iago. For the movie's soundtrack, Lorin Maazel conducted the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala. The film premiered in West Germany on August 28, 1986 and received a U.S. theatrical release on September 12, 1986. It was nominated for a Bafta Award and a Golden Globe for Best
Giuseppe Verdi (1871), with three late masterpieces: his Requiem (1874), and the operas "Otello" (1887) and "Falstaff" (1893). His operas remain extremely popular, especially the three peaks of his 'middle period': "Rigoletto, Il trovatore" and "La traviata", and the 2013 bicentenary of his birth was widely celebrated in broadcasts and performances. Verdi, the first child of Carlo Giuseppe Verdi (1785–1867) and Luigia Uttini (1787–1851), was born at their home in Le Roncole, a village near Busseto, then in the Département Taro and within the borders of the First French Empire following the annexation of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza in 1808.