He is a filmmaker who, with his documentary films in recent years, have won awards in important film festivals. This 53-year-old Eritrea born, Italian Citizen is screen writer, director, cinematographer, producer and a graduate of the New York School of Cinema. He has entered the world of cinema in 1993 with the documentary "Boatman", which has been featured in major film festivals such as Locarno, IDFA and Sundance.
With the start of the new century, Rosi directed films such as "Afterwords", "Below Sea Level" and " El Sicario, Room 164". "Below Sea Level" have won the Orizzonti Awards of Venice Film Festival.
In 2013, he won the Golden Lion Award of the 7th Venice Film Festival with the "Holy GRA". This film depicts city life along the GRA highway around Rome, Italy.
In 2016, with "Fire at Sea", which is about immigrants, the filmmaker won the Golden Bear of the 66th Berlin Film Festival and represented Italian cinema at the 2017 Academy Awards.
Last year, in Italian Cinema Retrospective, a section in 10th Iran International Documentary Film Festival, three outstanding films by Gianfranco Rosi, "Fire at the Sea", "Below the Sea Level," and "El Sicario, Room 164" were screened and received great responses from the audience.