Being the family bum, photography and filmmaking was a natural choice for me.
Before my career in photography and journalism I studied politics and international relations at the University of Genoa, I went to journalism and photography schools and, after graduating, I studied more geopolitics at ISPI, Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale in Milan.
I have a TV production background, gained first working as producer for film production companies, then as an executive producer and director in Viacom's Mtv News.
I was lucky enough to work on great shows like VH1 Storytellers, TRL, Total Request live and many many more.
The role I enjoyed the most in my Mtv years was that of Executive Producer of Mtv News department. There I made my first experiences in producing documentary. And it was great. I was given the possibility to work on projects literally all around the world: from Brazil to Afghanistan, U.S.A. and all over Europe,dealing with social and youth issues.
In 2009 I started working independently. I do three things: I direct documentary films, I take pictures and I write. I mainly write for tv, but also for magazines and newspapers.
Today I am represented by LUZ Photo Agency and my commercial works are available at Studio Nicama, a media house I founded together with three fellow photographers (studionicama.com).
In 2018 I directed "L'altro spazio", a documentary film produced by Rai Cinema that opened the architecture "Biennale di Venezia".
When I choose a documentary project I focus on it a for extended periods of time. I have been documenting migration flows with UNHCR and my work on this spans over the last 10 years, over many trips to Africa and Asia, both on assignment and on my own initiative.
My work has been published in Italy and abroad by Rai, Rai News, Rai Cinema, SkyNews, Sky Arte, CNN and by various newspapers. It is also about to become a documentary film.
I have received the following awards for my work:
- Civis Media Prize 2009| Winner |True Life, Lampedusa Porta d'Europa
- Ilaria Alpi | Best long reportage 2011 |Mtv News, Libia i ragazzi e la rivoluzione
- Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs | Mention d'honneur 2012| All Bec, Il senso di una meta
In 2022 my work on migration has been selected to partecipate at EURPHOTO PROJECT, an exhibition in Rome, in the Nuvola, by Fuksas. The concept of the show was "photography and literature". Such an honor to see my work displayed among the works of truly great photographers and writers.
I chose the migration topic almost accidentally. My first work was an assignment for Mtv True Life in Lampedusa. There I had the luck to meet and spend two days with Italian Journalist Ettore Mo. He had a profound effect on me. One of the things he told me was: “Once you see people suffering, you can't just go back to your home and feel the same as before. After a while you will want to go back again.”
I found that to be very true. And I kept looking for assignments and ways to travel on the routes of migration.
It saddens me how migrations are strongly politicized. The information that is published about migration is mostly biased and exploited. I aim to remain neutral and focus only on the human, economical and geopolitical aspect of this phenomenon. My positions may appear naïve but they underpin my goal to show stories to people who don’t travel to certain areas and leave to them any judgment.
We are witnessing some world-defining phenomena: climate change, drought, the exploitation of natural resources and the rapid westernization of African and middle-eastern societies are all causes of migrations.
Western foreign policies, influenced by political elections and energy security considerations, are often in pursue of short-term objectives. I’m not giving up hope for foreign policies that shapes our international commercial relations with the aim of contrasting the causes of migration.
Now I'm focusing my work on another global topic that is strictly connected with migration: climate change.
For this reason I am taking a master's degree in the University of Parma in environmental journalism. Yes, back to school!
Come back here or follow me on social media to stay informed about my work.