Francesca Comencini

Biography

Born in Rome in 1961, she is a director and screenwriter who studied philosophy at La Sapienza University before interrupting her studies to move to Paris, where she lived for eighteen years and where her three children were born. Her debut film, Pianoforte (1984), won the De Sica Award at the Venice International Film Festival. Since then, she has worked tirelessly across documentary and fiction, tackling themes that continually question reality and its conflicts, including Carlo Giuliani, Boy (2002), I Like to Work (Mobbing) (2004), In fabbrica (2007), and The White Space (2009). In the following years, he directed several episodes of TV series such as Gomorrah and Django. In 2024, he released The Time It Takes, an autobiographical film dedicated to his father, Luigi Comencini, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Nastri d’Argento awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay.

Directed

1. Gomorrah (2014) — Director
2. Luna Nera (2020) — Director
3. The Time It Takes (2024) — Director
4. Stories of Love That Cannot Belong to This World (2017) — Director
5. Django (2023) — Director
6. The White Space (2009) — Director
7. Visions of Europe (2004) — Director
8. I Like to Work – Mobbing (2004) — Director
9. A Special Day (2012) — Director
10. Our Country (2006) — Director
11. Carlo Giuliani, a Boy (2002) — Director
12. Annabelle partagée (1991) — Director
13. Pianoforte (1985) — Director
14. The Words of My Father (2001) — Director
15. In fabbrica (2007) — Director
16. La lumière du lac (1988) — Director
17. L'Aquila 2009: Five Directors in the Rubble (2009) — Director
18. La diaspora delle Vele (2025) — Director
19. Shakespeare a Palermo (1997) — Director

Also appeared in

1. The French as Seen by… (1988) — Self (Segment "Pèlerinage à Agen")
2. Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita (2021) — Self
3. Filming Desire: A Journey Through Women’s Cinema (2000) — Self
4. What Do You Know About Me (2009) — Self
5. Women Directors (2014) — Francesca Comencini
6. Pilgrimage to Agen (1988) — Herself
7. Le Cercle (2005)