Bio

Christian Filippella was born in Benevento on December 20th, 1975. On completion of a law degree he began working in 1998 as an independent filmmaker in Spain. A year later, while shooting documentaries and studying photography, he moved to belfast where he shot his first short films. Christian was then selected for the directing program at the prestigious Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, national film school in Rome, where he directed four short films in 35 mm. The first, "Silver Nail" was shown at the European school film festival in Helsinki, and "Il Rigore Piu Lungo del Mondo" was selected at many international festivals, including Cuba, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, and Rome, where it was included in a selection of just eight short films by young directors from all the schools around the world. Christian also returned to Ireland, to direct, with the production of the Northern Ireland Film Commission, "Stoop Swaying In the Blackness".

In 2005 Christian received his diploma in film directing from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia with the 35mm short film Thermae 2'40", a fascinating psychological thriller, based on the paranormal. Thermae premiered in North America at the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, after having been selected at the Screamfest, the largest horror film festival in the United States. Christian won the only bursary from the American government for an Italian filmmaker to take a master in film directing in the United States. In addition to this Fulbright scholarship he was also awarded the Philip Morris Award twice, and most recently the Sergio Corbucci Prize.

In 2008 he obtained his MFA in directing from the American Film Institute, and was recently awarded with the New Filmmaker Panavision Program.