Valentina Leotta

Valentina Leotta is a screenwriter who also has taught theory and the techniques of film directing and adaptation of cultural products at "Sapienza" University of Rome. Born in Catania, Sicily, elder sister of four children, she originally pursued a career in music. She sang and played violin and bass guitar in many post-rock bands, friend of Uzeda, Blonde Red Head, Braniac, Tortoise, Aerial M, Trans AM, Dirty Three, Dianogah, Rachel's. In 1998 she moved to Rome. There, a car accident and ensuing coma changed her life plans: she stopped playing music and began composing in another way, writing for film and documentary. In 1999 she helped to found Rome's Video Me-ti Laboratory for realization of short films and documentaries. She attended Faculty of Communication Sciences at "Sapienza" University of Rome, where she graduated 110 cum laude/110 in 2005, providing an academic defense of her thesis about Jonas Mekas and Diary Film. Since 2005 she has collaborated with director/teacher Roberto Faenza, with Rai Cinema, 'Jean Vigo Italia [it]', and with Aseq, a book store specializing in esoteric disciplines and oriental cultures. Since 2006 she has been the originator and coordinator of Cinemaster at Sapienza University, a university master on film profession and audiovisual culture, focused on "learning by doing" approach. At the same time, working as screenwriter assistant, she learn by experience and on the job training the art, craft and business of screen-writing. She also attended several acting schools, including "Teatro Azione" under Isabella Del Bianco and Cristiano Censi in Rome, and the prestigious "Actor's Center of San Francisco" under Shelley Mitchell in San Francisco. Her breakthrough came in 2007, when she was chosen by director Roberto Faenza to contributing screenplay for the film 'The Case of Unfaithful Klara (2009)', starring Claudio Santamaria, Iain Glen, Laura Chiatti and Kierston Wareing. In 2014 she received a PhD in Film Studies from the "Sapienza" University of Rome.