Michael Fantauzzi

I was born in Detroit, United States, in 1967, but have subsequently lived in Italy since I was four so am both an Italian and American citizen. I graduated from the “La Sapienza” University, Rome in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Literature specializing in the performing arts, with a final dissertation on the Italian director Valerio Zurlini. I attended Directing course at FAMU (Academy of Cinema and Arts) in Prague for one year and I have shot twelve short movies, both fiction and non-fiction. I have been actively involved in the theatre since I was an adolescent, first as actor and then director. For the last five years, I have been teaching theatre and drama one day a week at a High School in the province of Anzio, Rome. As director, I have done five theater pieces. I have been a movie reviewer/critic for many years contributing to different publications, both on line and not (“Cinema d’Essai”, “Chi…ama Roma”, neighborhood newspapers, cine-club newspapers) and have organized several film clubs both in Italy and abroad. I have worked as a translator from French and Czech into Italian, mostly specializing in literary works such as poems, essays and literary works. In 2020 I founded a film production house, “Michael Fantauzzi Film” (MFF), with whom I co-produced, in addition to the short films I made as director: “Giulia” (selected at the “Giornate degli Autori” in the “Notti Veneziane” section at the Venice Film Festival 2021), “Taxi Monamour” (selected and then winner of the Audience Award at the “Giornate degli Autori” at the Venice Film Festival 2024), both directed by Ciro De Caro, “La piel pulpo” (competing for the “Horizontes Latino Award” at the San Sebastian International FF in 2022; winner of the Best Film Award at Cine Independiente y de Autor de Canarias FF), “La Hiedra” (which was selected at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, in the “Orizzonti” section, where it won the award for best screenplay), both directed by Ana Cristina Barragán. I am currently preparing my first feature film.