For Agnese Marsilii, award-winning Indie Film Director, Cinematographer, and Screenwriter, storytelling isn’t just a craft; it’s a force she can’t ignore. Born in Italy, where art and cinema infuse every corner with beauty, she spent years exploring creativity before finally surrendering to the undeniable call of filmmaking. Rather than waiting for an invitation, she rolled up her sleeves and created her own opportunities.
Despite having no formal school training in filmmaking, her directorial debut with the short "BLOOM- The Only Way Out Is Through” premiered at the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television qualifying Film Festival TINFF 2024, where she was awarded Best Female Filmmaker USA, and nominated for Best Short Film, Best Short Film USA, and Best Cinematography. Alongside multiple other accolades, she received the Silver Award for Best Cinematography from the “Independent Short Film Awards” in Los Angeles and the Award of Commendation from the Canada Shorts Film Festival. BLOOM was also nominated for Best First-Time Female Director at the “Indie Short Fest” in Los Angeles, CA, and was an official selection at the Montreal Independent Film Festival 2024.
This proved she was finally on the right path and that persistence and passion always pay off.
Now, she is writing the screenplay for her first horror feature debut, INSIDIA.
As a director and cinematographer, she combines technical precision with artistic intuition.
Her superpower? Being able to embrace the unexpected and turn even the most challenging moments into winning opportunities:
“…all that is unplanned, it’s just the way the story manifests itself beyond the script. I like to call them ”unscripted miracles”, a cloud covering the sun, something entering the frame, an issue with the location, or a performance not meant to be filmed... it’s there, right in those moments, that magic really happens”…
Of course, this is only possible if there is enough planning during pre-production, and she is the kind of creative mind who loves to work obsessively hard on planning.
Her style is shaped by the concept of Pure Cinema, prioritizing imagery and symbolism over dialogue, meticulous mise-en-scene, and a low-key aesthetic dominated by intentional lighting and shadows.
Agnese has a bird's-eye view of the entire process, understanding every layer from storyboarding and editing, color science, color grading, music and sound, making it easy to foster strong team chemistry, and coming up with those “Aha!” moments, providing solutions to any challenge.
Her inspiration comes from the work of iconic directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles, and Cinematographers likeVittorio Storaro, Crescenzo Notarile, Gordon Willis, Brendan Kuroki Uegama, Gordon Verheul.
Agnese has a Bachelor’s degree in Intercultural Communication and Linguistics.
She is based in Boston, MA, USA.
