Lorena
Luciano was born in Italy and studied Law at the University of Milan before
deciding to become a filmmaker.
She moved to New York in 1996 where she made her first short film A Strange Marriage - selected in competition at the Bellaria Film Festival and distributed throughout Europe -and started an ongoing collaboration with her husband-to-be Filippo Piscopo.
In 1998 her documentary Dario Fo and Franca Rame: A Nobel for Two entered the Venice Film Festival and gained international distribution. It has been licensed to broadcasters throughout the world in five continents, from North America through Asia. The film also won the Finalist Award at the internationally renown WorldFest – Houston International Film Festival, one of the oldest film festivals in North America.
Since 1998 Lorena has been cooperating with RAI Italian Public Television and since 2004 she has been employed by RAI Corporation in the role of TV producer and editor for numerous TV features ranging from Culture, News, and Social issues.
In 2000 she started production of her feature documentary Urbanscapes. The visually stunning film, about decay and renewal in urban America, was completed and theatrically released in July of 2006 after experiencing delays because of lack of funds after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Urbanscapes was theatrically screened in New York City at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater, one of the New York’s premier showcases for independent film. It was initially scheduled for a one-week run and extended for three additional weeks due to the sold-out venue and to popular demand.
The documentary has received wide recognition and rave reviews by movie critics in a number of major U.S. and European national newspapers and magazines (including Variety, the New York Times, Time Out magazine, The Village Voice and Corriere della Sera). The film’s opening in New York was covered with two segments for RAI Italian Public TV that aired prime time in Italy and all over Europe.
In 2006 Lorena started working on her new documentary “Coal Rush”, a fascinating journey into the everyday life of Appalachian coal mining communities. The project’s initial inspiration was related to the 1907 Monongah mine disaster. At the beginning of the century, in an underground mine in West Virginia, hundreds of Italian immigrants died in an accident that history would classify as the worst mining tragedy in the United States.
Later on the project developed into a cinema-verite documentary-film on the human toll of coal associated with a carbon-dependent society. For over two years Coal Rush has followed the people of some remote West Virginia communities who are fighting against major US coal companies accused of polluting public water by injecting coal sludge underground or by filling with toxic sludge and coal dust huge artificial lakes just above elementary schools. The tragic results involved people getting sick and dying of a vast array of diseases like lead poisoning, tumors, and organ failures.
The film also explores the conflict within the same coal mining communities, split between residents who support coal and have successfully made a living thanks to coal industry related jobs and people who got injured or sick after decades of proud work underground and, overwhelmed by medical bills, went bankrupt after being denied healthcare coverage.
As a film editor, Lorena worked on films screened in major film festivals such as the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at Lincoln Center in New York.
She moved to New York in 1996 where she made her first short film A Strange Marriage - selected in competition at the Bellaria Film Festival and distributed throughout Europe -and started an ongoing collaboration with her husband-to-be Filippo Piscopo.
In 1998 her documentary Dario Fo and Franca Rame: A Nobel for Two entered the Venice Film Festival and gained international distribution. It has been licensed to broadcasters throughout the world in five continents, from North America through Asia. The film also won the Finalist Award at the internationally renown WorldFest – Houston International Film Festival, one of the oldest film festivals in North America.
Since 1998 Lorena has been cooperating with RAI Italian Public Television and since 2004 she has been employed by RAI Corporation in the role of TV producer and editor for numerous TV features ranging from Culture, News, and Social issues.
In 2000 she started production of her feature documentary Urbanscapes. The visually stunning film, about decay and renewal in urban America, was completed and theatrically released in July of 2006 after experiencing delays because of lack of funds after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Urbanscapes was theatrically screened in New York City at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater, one of the New York’s premier showcases for independent film. It was initially scheduled for a one-week run and extended for three additional weeks due to the sold-out venue and to popular demand.
The documentary has received wide recognition and rave reviews by movie critics in a number of major U.S. and European national newspapers and magazines (including Variety, the New York Times, Time Out magazine, The Village Voice and Corriere della Sera). The film’s opening in New York was covered with two segments for RAI Italian Public TV that aired prime time in Italy and all over Europe.
In 2006 Lorena started working on her new documentary “Coal Rush”, a fascinating journey into the everyday life of Appalachian coal mining communities. The project’s initial inspiration was related to the 1907 Monongah mine disaster. At the beginning of the century, in an underground mine in West Virginia, hundreds of Italian immigrants died in an accident that history would classify as the worst mining tragedy in the United States.
Later on the project developed into a cinema-verite documentary-film on the human toll of coal associated with a carbon-dependent society. For over two years Coal Rush has followed the people of some remote West Virginia communities who are fighting against major US coal companies accused of polluting public water by injecting coal sludge underground or by filling with toxic sludge and coal dust huge artificial lakes just above elementary schools. The tragic results involved people getting sick and dying of a vast array of diseases like lead poisoning, tumors, and organ failures.
The film also explores the conflict within the same coal mining communities, split between residents who support coal and have successfully made a living thanks to coal industry related jobs and people who got injured or sick after decades of proud work underground and, overwhelmed by medical bills, went bankrupt after being denied healthcare coverage.
As a film editor, Lorena worked on films screened in major film festivals such as the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at Lincoln Center in New York.
Filippo
Piscopo is a New York-based award-winning filmmaker born and raised in
Italy. He began his film education from a strong background in still photography
while studying Law at the University of Milan. After graduating from the
University’s School of Law in 1995, he moved to New York to pursue
a career in film and started an ongoing collaboration with his wife-to-be
Lorena Luciano.
Filippo is presently co-directing Coal Rush, a cinema-verite’ documentary that presents the human and social cost of coal in the 21st century mono-economy of Appalachia. The film unveils a slice of American life in a bunch of remote West Virginia counties where coal affects livelihoods, careers, friendships but also involves sickness, death and massive environmental disasters.
Coal Rush features the people who are fighting against major coal companies accused of poisoning the public water by injecting coal sludge underneath the local communities’ homes and valleys, as well as the people who support coal and have successfully made a living thanks to coal industry related jobs.
Filippo Piscopo has gained national and international acclaim for his and Lorena Luciano’s 2006 feature documentary Urbanscapes. The film is a portrait of evolution, change, and chaos in four different US metropolises – Chicago, Detroit, New York and Newark – as seen through eyes of residents and artists who have witnessed the dramatic transformation of their neighborhoods.
Urbanscapes was theatrically released in New York City in July 2006 at the Pioneer Theater, one of the New York’s premier showcases for independent film. The documentary, sold-out during its initial one-week run, was held over for three additional weeks due to popular demand. Urbanscapes drew rave reviews from several national and New York newspapers and magazines (including Variety, the New York Times, Time Out magazine, and The Village Voice) as well as from the European mainstream media (Corriere della Sera, RAI Italian Public TV).
Filippo’s award winning work includes Dario Fo and Franca Rame, A Nobel for Two, a documentary on the Italian playwright and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, selected at the 1998 Venice Film Festival and winner of the Houston International Film Festival’s Finalist Award. The film is a touching and colorful portrait of the life and genius of Dario Fo, a milestone of international theater and literature, and actress Franca Rame, his wife and longtime collaborator. Dario Fo and Franca Rame: a Nobel for Two enjoyed distribution and broadcasting throughout the world in several continents, including North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Other non-fiction films previously authored by Filippo Piscopo include A Strange Marriage, selected in competition at the Bellaria Film Festival in 1996 and broadcasted throughout Europe, and Starting from Scratch, selected at the Bellaria Film Festival in 1994.
Filippo has previously worked as a TV producer-director in New York for European TV Networks, and he has reported on social, political and entertainment issues throughout the United States. He currently produces TV documentary features for RAI-Italian Public TV. His TV credits feature a series of TV Specials on the US Presidential Elections for RAI that include the Election Night’s coverage from Chicago, Illinois. Filippo also worked on several Prime Time documentaries for RAI Corporation, the New York branch of Italian national Television. Among them “La Santa Alleanza”, on the Sacred Alliance between Ronald Reagan and John Paul II to support the Solidarnosc movement in 1980’s Poland, and 9/11 Dust, an investigative TV reportage on the deadly effects of the World Trade Center implosion on the Ground Zero recovery workers.
Filippo is presently co-directing Coal Rush, a cinema-verite’ documentary that presents the human and social cost of coal in the 21st century mono-economy of Appalachia. The film unveils a slice of American life in a bunch of remote West Virginia counties where coal affects livelihoods, careers, friendships but also involves sickness, death and massive environmental disasters.
Coal Rush features the people who are fighting against major coal companies accused of poisoning the public water by injecting coal sludge underneath the local communities’ homes and valleys, as well as the people who support coal and have successfully made a living thanks to coal industry related jobs.
Filippo Piscopo has gained national and international acclaim for his and Lorena Luciano’s 2006 feature documentary Urbanscapes. The film is a portrait of evolution, change, and chaos in four different US metropolises – Chicago, Detroit, New York and Newark – as seen through eyes of residents and artists who have witnessed the dramatic transformation of their neighborhoods.
Urbanscapes was theatrically released in New York City in July 2006 at the Pioneer Theater, one of the New York’s premier showcases for independent film. The documentary, sold-out during its initial one-week run, was held over for three additional weeks due to popular demand. Urbanscapes drew rave reviews from several national and New York newspapers and magazines (including Variety, the New York Times, Time Out magazine, and The Village Voice) as well as from the European mainstream media (Corriere della Sera, RAI Italian Public TV).
Filippo’s award winning work includes Dario Fo and Franca Rame, A Nobel for Two, a documentary on the Italian playwright and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, selected at the 1998 Venice Film Festival and winner of the Houston International Film Festival’s Finalist Award. The film is a touching and colorful portrait of the life and genius of Dario Fo, a milestone of international theater and literature, and actress Franca Rame, his wife and longtime collaborator. Dario Fo and Franca Rame: a Nobel for Two enjoyed distribution and broadcasting throughout the world in several continents, including North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Other non-fiction films previously authored by Filippo Piscopo include A Strange Marriage, selected in competition at the Bellaria Film Festival in 1996 and broadcasted throughout Europe, and Starting from Scratch, selected at the Bellaria Film Festival in 1994.
Filippo has previously worked as a TV producer-director in New York for European TV Networks, and he has reported on social, political and entertainment issues throughout the United States. He currently produces TV documentary features for RAI-Italian Public TV. His TV credits feature a series of TV Specials on the US Presidential Elections for RAI that include the Election Night’s coverage from Chicago, Illinois. Filippo also worked on several Prime Time documentaries for RAI Corporation, the New York branch of Italian national Television. Among them “La Santa Alleanza”, on the Sacred Alliance between Ronald Reagan and John Paul II to support the Solidarnosc movement in 1980’s Poland, and 9/11 Dust, an investigative TV reportage on the deadly effects of the World Trade Center implosion on the Ground Zero recovery workers.