Franthiesco Ballerini

Franthiesco Ballerini is a Brazilian writer, journalist and filmmaker. He was a finalist for the 60th Jabuti Award - the most important literary recognition in Latin America - for his fourth book, 'Poder Suave - Soft Power', the first publication in the world exclusively dedicated to investigate the most important cultural soft powers. Such soft powers include major ones Hollywood, the British Invasion, tango, Brazilian Bossa Nova, Japanese MAG culture etc. Franthiesco is a PhD student in Media Communication, Process and Sociocultural Practices, recipient of a full scholarship to continue the research about the power of mass culture around the world. His previous books 'Cinema Brasileiro no Século 21' (Brazilian Cinema in the 21st Century) and 'Jornalismo Cultural no Século 21' (Arts Journalism in the 21st Century) are references in major universities in Latin America and Portugal. His first book, 'Diário de Bollywood' (Bollywood Diary) is the first book in Portuguese about one of the biggest movie industries of the world. The book is a result of a one-month special report in India for O Estado de S.Paulo, one of the biggest media groups of Brazil, for which Franthiesco worked for eight years as reporter and film critic. He's been a film critic and arts analyst for the biggest media groups in Brazil, like TV Gazeta and Eldorado Radio, also for arts publication such as Cult Magazine and Bravo!. In 2020, he published his fifth book, 'História do Cinema Mundial' (History of World Cinema) a three year long research project to investigate the most important films that portrait different cultures, languages, aesthetics, techniques and industries of the world, highly recommended by the most important Brazilian cinematographer, Walter Carvalho, from the Academy Award Best Foreign Film and Best Actress nominee 'Central Station' (1999). Juror in film and literary international festivals in Brazil, Franthiesco Ballerini has lectured about Brazilian cinema and arts in universities like University of Chicago, Loyola University and University of Illinois, as well as about Brazilian and Indian cinema in Freie Universitat in Berlim and dozens of other national institutions. As journalist, besides the Bollywood special report, he's the author of special coverages like the launching of the Performance Capture technique in Skywalker Ranch, in San Francisco (2004) and the backstage of CNN news production during the 2004 US election year.