Gianpaolo Pietri

Gianpaolo Pietri was born on December 9, 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico into a creative family of artists, designers, and builders. His mother and sister are both accomplished mosaic artists and his older brother is an interior designer in South Florida. His father, an investment banker turned successful real estate developer, always encouraged his siblings to reach for their dreams and do what they loved. For Gianpaolo, that meant making movies. Since middle school, Gianpaolo was an avid writer, entering and winning several poetry competitions and submitting letters and articles to high school publications. At age 19, he attended the New York Film Academy, where he wrote and directed his first short films. His final project, Salvador, was about an exiled Cuban writer who makes his way to the United States, but succumbs to the pain of having to leave his family and country behind. After attending NYFA, while studying History at Tufts University, Gianpaolo shifted gears to pursue a career in architecture, his other passion. In 2003, he enrolled in the Master of Architecture program at Washington University in St. Louis, one of the best in the country. After working as an architectural designer for almost ten years, five spent under the tutelage of renowned Miami architect, Chad Oppenheim, Gianpaolo returned to his original love, filmmaking. In 2014, he launched his film career, along with his twin brother, Alessandro Pietri, with the most successful Latino-led film campaign in Kickstarter history for his documentary feature, Ours is a Future, about the burgeoning power of the Latino vote in the United States. During the campaign he convinced Latino A-list entertainers such as Eva Longoria, Amaury Nolasco, and Al Madrigal to join the project as executive producers. The film is due for release in the Fall of 2020.