Director from Italy collapsed first (7)
I believe the answer is:
fellini
'director' is the definition.
(Italian film director Federico Fellini)
'from italy collapsed first' is the wordplay.
'from' becomes 'in' (I've seen this in other clues).
'italy' becomes 'i'.
'collapsed' becomes 'fell' (I've seen this before).
'first' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'in'+'i'='ini'
'ini' after 'fell' is 'FELLINI'.
(Other definitions for fellini that I've seen before include "It. film director (La Dolce Vita)" , "Shooting Italian" , "Federico ------- (1920-1993), Italian film director" , "Italian film-maker, d. 1993" , "It. director of Satyricon" .)