Director & Producer
Pietro Pinto, Los Angeles, 2023.
Assistant Director for Palm D’or Winner director Marco Bellochio, July 2019.
Acting for Palm D’or Winner Director Marco Bellochio, July 2019.
Producer and Film Director based in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Pietro’s MFA thesis film, Adam, had its world premiere at the Venice International Critics’ Week 2020. His latest short film, The Golden Gate, won Best in Show and Best Narrative at the 31st CSU Media Arts Festival 2021.
In the fall of 2020, Pietro joined San Francisco Film School, where he teaches Advanced Producing and Directing. There he works alongside several Oscar-nominated artists. Since the spring of 2021, he has taken a position as a Guest Artist at CalArts School of Film/Video. He currently teaches at UCLA and is the Film Chair for CSSSA.
Pietro grew up in Monteveglio, Italy, and received a B.A. in Arts and Culture from Maastricht University in the Netherlands. During his time there, he won the International Bachelor’s Scholarship, which allowed him to travel and study in Jerusalem, Paris, and New York. Later, he transitioned into film at the International School of Cinema and Television in Cuba - EICTV.
Pietro worked at the Bay Area production company Open Eye Pictures before being offered an MFA in Cinema at San Francisco State University. In his first year, he created an independent production company, Lines Pictures, then produced and directed Rosita, which premiered at the 2017 Venice Film Festival as part of the Young Italian Directors selection (I Love GAI, SIAE – Competition). The film won several awards, including the L’ARC Special Award at the International Sardinia Queer Film Festival and Best Cinematography at the Noto International Film Festival in Sicily.
In the summer of 2018, Pietro was chosen to participate in the Jerusalem Film Workshop, directing Jerusalem in Between, which premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival and was screened in more than 20 film festivals all over the world.
During the summer of 2019, Pietro worked as Assistant Director for acclaimed Italian Director Marco Bellocchio in his newest short film Se Posso Permettermi produced by Kavac Film Company.
Pietro’s short film, Icarus, has been officially selected in competition for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2020, won the CSU Media Arts Festival, and still photos of the film have been selected for the SF de Young Fine Art Museum Open Exhibition.
His latest film, The Golden Gate, had its world premiere at the Turin Lovers Film Festival in October 2020.
His MFA thesis short film, Adam, had its world premiere at the 35th Venice International Critics’ Week in September 2020.
Besides filmmaking, Pinto teaches Advanced Producing and Directing at the San Francisco Film School and UCLA. Pietro is Film Chair for CSSSA.
Venice International Critics’ Week, 2020
In 2017 & 2022, he produced and coordinated the SFSU Summer International Documentary Workshop in Bologna, Italy. This four-week workshop helped students create five separate documentary short films. Pietro is also the creator of an international masterclass series in conversation with top industry leaders from around the world in partnership with USC, CALARTS, UCLA, SFFS, SFUS, Berlinale and Locarno Film Fest.