For Agnese Marsilii, award-winning Director of Photography and Independent Film Director, a career in film was a leap of faith. Born in the Land of Culture and Cinema, Italy, she has always been experimenting with art in all its forms.
“I didn’t go to Film School, and I never thought of pursuing a career in the Film Industry. I’ve always been extremely creative, yet I didn’t know how to channel my creativity until my mid-thirties when, after experimenting with photography during the pandemic, I realized what my true calling in life was: making movies.”
Her first film, the psychological thriller "BLOOM- The Only Way Out Is Through” premiered at the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television qualifying Film Festival TINFF 2024, where she was awarded as Best Female Filmmaker USA, and nominated for Best Short Film, Best Short Film USA, and Best Cinematography. She also received the Silver Award in Best Cinematography from the “Independent Short Film Awards” in Los Angeles. Her short film was nominated for Best First-time Female Director at the “Indie Short Fest” in Los Angeles CA and was an official selection at the Montreal Independent Film Festival 2024.
Her unwavering determination to excel in her craft led her to first conquer the art of photography, and then fearlessly expand her expertise into the world of motion pictures. It was also thanks to her academic background in Communication, together with her training in performing arts, that she was able to grow her hidden talent in the related field of Visual Communication
What makes her stand out from other emerging Film Directors and Cinematographers is her skillset in other aspects of the filmmaking process, like storyboarding, video editing, color grading, and sound design. It is natural for her to effectively collaborate with all crew members, quickly adjust to changes, and think out of the box to bring to life even the most challenging shots.
A consistent theme of Agnese’s style is her emphasis on images, rather than character dialogue, influenced by the concept of Pure Cinema. Like a painter with a brush, she paints on the screen with lights, preferring a low-key look where shadows are frequently predominant, embracing a no-nonsense style and meticulously curating every detail of the mise-en-scene.
Her inspiration comes from the work of iconic directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles, and Cinematographers like Gordon Willis, Brendan Kuroki Uegama, Gordon Verheul, Glen Winter, Crescenzo Notarile and Vittorio Storaro.
Agnese lives in Boston, USA, currently engaged in the development of a new suspense film inspired by the concept of Pure Cinema.
She has a Bachelor’s degree in Intercultural Communication and Linguistic.
