Agostino Ferrente, director, producer, artistic director, music publisher. Born October 28, 1971 in Cerignola (Foggia), "survivor" of Ipotesi Cinema (the group directed by Ermanno Olmi) and the Dams (Department of Performing Arts) at the University of Bologna.

He achieved recognition at international film festivals with his short films Poco più della metà di zero –“A Little More Than Half Of Zero”- (1993) and Opinioni di un pirla - “A Dickhead’s Opinions” - (1994).

His Pirata Manifatture Cinematografiche film company produced two documentaries which he co-directed with Giovanni Piperno, Intervista a mia madre – “Interwiev with my mother” -(Rai Tre - Teatri Uniti 1999) and Il film di Mario – “Mario makes Movies” - (1999-2001).

In 2001, along with a dozen accomplices, he founded the group Apollo 11. The association saved the historic cinema-theatre Apollo in Rome from becoming a bingo hall. The Apollo 11 has since become one of the most dynamic and vitalizing centers of cultural productions in Rome.

With Mario Tronco of the band Avion Travel, he created, through Apollo 11, the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, an ensemble of about 20 musicians from as many countries around the world. The group released two albums: L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio (Apollo 11/Self 2004) and SONA (Apollo 11/Radiofandango 2006). He directed and co-produced with Bianca Film and Lucky Red the story of the making of the Orchestra, L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio a documentary film that made it’s première as a special closing event at the 2006 Locarno Film Festival.

The film has since been successfully distributed in Italy, and Nanni Moretti re-launched the “cineconcerto” format (film+ concert) at his Cinema Nuovo Sacher which was sold out for several weeks.

The film has received many awards including: Nastro D’Argento (Italian Cinema Journalists Union) – for best documentary, Globo D’Oro Award (Foreign Press), Best Director at the Sulmona Cinema Festival, Best Film from the Signis Jury at the Buenos Aires Festival DerHumALC. It continues to receive invitations from many festivals all over the world.

As vice-president of Doc/it, the Italian Documentary Association, Agostino is involved in organizing events for the promotion of documentaries, including the Stati Generali del Documentario and the Doc/it Award in Venice, and creating various initiatives, such as those dedicated to Vittorio de Seta and Alberto Grifi, becoming a trustworthy collaborator with both of them.

Further activities with Doc.it include a mini investigative collective, Scusi dov'è il Documentario? - “Exuse Me, Where Is The Documentary” - co-directed with Giovanni Piperno, Gianfranco Pannone, Enrica Colusso and Alessandro Rossetto.

Among other documentaries and music videos he directed the Ena Andi music video (a song performed by Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio) that won The Best Director Award at The Italian Music Video Awards 2006.