Writer/Director Francesco Puppini was born and raised in Milan.
A graduate from the Northern Film School, he was appointed as a digital creative on the talent programme for the online relaunch of BBC Three.
His short film Some Body was nominated for the Audience Award at Leeds International Film Festival and won the Best Student Award at Screen.Dance in Scotland.
Virginia, a short drama about a difficult relationship between mother and son, won the BFI Future Film Lab Award, the ARRI Best Cinematography Award, the Myllennium Award and the NFFTY Special Achievement Award for Best Acting alongside other nominations, such as Best Director and Best International Short. The short screened internationally around film festivals.
Francesco was then selected for a specialist workshop run by director Cristian Mungiu and was part of New Arrivals: Go Short Campus in Nijmegen, where he started developing his new short film project titled Tutti Uccidono for which he was later awarded the top prize at ShorTS Pitching Training 2020. He signs a contract with the production company dispàrte that commits to producing the short film with other international production companies.
Crossing boundaries between factual and fiction, Francesco recently approached video art for theatre at LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura. His work screened at La Biennale di Venezia 2020.
In 2021 he participated in the writing programme Luminanza - Reattore per la drammaturgia contemporanea svizzera di lingua italiana and meets several authors from the Swiss and Italian panorama and writes his first dramaturgy titled Evocazione. The text has been read at Studio Foce in Lugano during FIT - Festival Internazionale del Teatro e della Scena Contemporanea and at the finissage of the exhibition on A.R. Penck at the Museo d’Arte di Mendrisio.
In 2022 he participates in the Cenacolo del Monte Verità during the festival Eventi Letterari in Ascona (Locarno) where he reads his screenplay Two Strangers under the mentorship of writer Matteo Terzaghi.
Projects
Work history
FilmmakerLatimer Group
Leeds, United KingdomInternship
Selected as part of the BBC Three x Latimer Playground programme.
Narrative Content development and creation for the online relaunch of BBC Three.
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FilmmakerTeatro Oscar DanzaTeatro
- Milan, ItalyFreelance
Directing and editing seven episodes’ shorts series (8 minutes x episodes average) for a children's theatre show by Teatro Oscar DanzaTeatro. Sponsored and funded by Fondazione Comunità Milano.
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Skills
- Directing
- Screenwriting
- Short Films
- Video Advertising
- Creative Assistance
- Production
Education
Bachelor of Arts (BA) in DirectingLeeds Beckett University
- Leeds, United Kingdom
Directing and Screenwriting
Awards
BFI Future Film Lab AwardBritish Film Institute (BFI)
This award recognises raw talent and potential, a filmmaker who can demonstrate creativity and passion with an eye for film. The award is supported by LaCie and the prize is £5,000 towards the budget of a new film, alongside a year of mentoring and access to camera kit and technical support.
The winning film, Virginia, by Francesco Puppini, tells the story of a psychic whose old memory of a fire haunts her.
Sarah Gavron, Jury Chair said, “Francesco Puppini demonstrates an ambitious cinematic vision in Virginia and the result is a very accomplished film which shows huge technical skill. Throughout the film you see exquisite poetic imagery with a very cohesive tone and a distinctive feel. Virginia is precisely executed and Francesco has artfully pulled off a difficult concept.”
The film was also nominated for Best Director and Best International Short Film. The film was selected within a range of 1900 films, 20 were nominated for awards and only 10 went on to win awards. "Virginia" won the top prize in the whole competition.G
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Myllennium Award 2020 - My FrameGruppo Barletta
Award received for my short film “Virginia”. The award choice was made by directors Matteo Garrone, Paolo Genovese, managers Nicola Maccanico, Paolo Del Brocco and producer Andrea Leone.+ Show more