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Italian filmmaker Elio Petri got his start working as a film critic for the communist newspaper L'Unita. Prior to that he had earned a degree in literature from Rome University. As a director, he started out making documentaries and co-penning scripts, primarily for De Santis. Petri made his feature-film directorial debut in 1961 with Assassin. He subsequently became known for making stylish, tightly woven sociopolitical satires that include The Tenth Victim (1965), his Academy Award-winning Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), and Lulu the Tool, which was awarded the Grand Prize at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival.