Olmi is an Italian director and screenwriter. He began his career in film as a clerk in the electric company Edison-Volta, which sponsored many film and theater projects. During seven years that he spent working for that company, he made many documentaries and became head of the film department. The last film Time Stood Still (Il tempo si č fermato, 1958), which he made for that company was his feature film debut. After this success, Olmi moved to Milan and founded an independent film company Twenty Four Horses which he made a partly autobiographical The Job (Il posto, 1961). Later on he made The Engagement (I fidanzati, 1963) and A Man Named John (E venne un uomo, 1965), a biography of Pope John XXIII, which was commercially quite unsuccessful. Afterwards he made several TV films and made his return to the big screen in 1978 with the film The Tree with the Wooden Clogs (L\' albero degli zoccoli). It won the Golden Palm in Cannes in 1978 and is considered his best film. His other films include Cammina, cammina (1982), Long Live the Lady! (Lunga vita alla signora, 1987), The Legend of the Holy Drinker (La leggenda del santo bevitore, 1988), The Profession of Arms (Il mestiere delle armi, 2001).
He is most famous for his work with nonprofessional actors (with exception in the film A Man Named John) and shooting on authentic locations. He often used long shots in portraying lives of ordinary people.