Domenico Distilo

Domenico Distilo is an Italian filmmaker born on 25 December 1978 in Rome. He lives and works between Rome and Berlin, splitting his creative practice across documentary, narrative, and hybrid forms. Distilo graduated in film direction from Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome with Unexpected (Inatteso), a documentary examining political asylum demand in Italy; the film screened at the Festival dei Popoli in Florence and at the Berlinale's Forum section in 2006. In 2008, he won the national screenplay prize Premio Solinas for When elephants fight (Quando gli elefanti combattono), written in collaboration with Filippo Gravino and Guido Iuculano. From 2009 onward, he joined production company Sciara, where he works as both director and producer. In 2011, Distilo directed two documentaries for RAI 3, Italy's cultural public television channel: Urban extremes - Jerusalem (Estremi urbani, Gerusalemme), exploring territorial conflict in the city, and Romany imaginary - Minority artists (Immaginario Rom - Artisti Contro), focused on Romany art in Hungary. His 2011 feature Deep time (Margini di sottosuolo) blurred boundaries between documentary and fiction through a narrative centered on archaeology and how people's connection to the past shapes identity. In 2018, his documentary Manga Do, Igort and the way of the manga won the audience award at the Biografilm Festival in Bologna, following Igort, an influential Italian graphic novelist, through foundational sites of Japanese culture. An earlier reportage, Igort, the secret landscape (2013), chronicled Igort's research for his Soviet Union trilogy. As a screenwriter and director, Distilo consistently prioritizes social and political substance. His Capricorn nature aligns with his rigorous, architecturally-minded approach to form and social investigation.