Gianfranco Rosi

Gianfranco Rosi (b. 1964, Asmara, Eritrea) left his country of birth at age 13 due to the extended war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. He studied in Italy for several years before moving in 1985 to the United States where he graduated from New York University Film School. His first director-producer film Boatman (1993) screened at Sundance, Locarno, Toronto, Karlovy Vary and elsewhere. Below Sea Level (2008), which investigates a small community of social outcasts in the California desert, won the Orizzonti Award at Venice, was victorious at the One World fest in Prague, and was nominated for a European Film Award. El sicario – Room 164 (2010), about a member of a Mexican drug cartel, received the FIPRESCI Prize at Venice among other awards from festivals around the world. Sacro GRA (2013), a mosaic of portraits from the outskirts of Rome, was the first documentary to win the Golden Lion for Best Film at Venice.

Source: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2016