Edoardo Ponti
Fluent in English, French, and Italian, the writer/director adapted and directed in 2020 a screen adaptation of Romain Gary’s famous novel The Life Ahead. The film, starring Sophia Loren, was released worldwide by Netflix and ranked top ten on the platform in 40 countries. It received multiple awards including two Golden Globes nominations and one Academy Award Nomination. The film also earned a 92% on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.
In 2014, he directed a masterful film adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s play Human Voice. The film had its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and its US premiere at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2013, Mr. Ponti directed the film The Nightshift Belongs to the Stars, starring Nastassja Kinski, Enrico LoVerso, and Julian Sands. The film was short-listed for an Academy Award in the Best Live Action Short category and won Best Live Action Short at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and won the prestigious Italian Film Critics prize Nastro d’Argento.
In 2011, Mr. Ponti wrote and directed the romantic comedy Coming & Going starring Rhys Darby, Fionnula Flanagan, and Sasha Alexander. The film was commercially successful and well-received by the critics.
Mr. Ponti’s feature film debut, Between Strangers (2002), starred an ensemble cast that included Mira Sorvino, Deborah Kara Unger, Gerard Depardieu, Pete Postlethwaite, and Malcolm McDowell. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival garnering five Genie Nominations and one win, the Canadian Academy Award.
In addition to his film work, Mr. Ponti produced and directed Eugene Ionesco’s play The Lesson. He then went on to adapt for the stage, produce, and direct Nick Bantock’s best-selling trilogy Griffin & Sabine at the Spoleto Theatre Festival in Italy. He also wrote and directed an opera with renowned Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner entitled Requiem for My Friend for which Warner Bros. awarded Mr. Ponti a platinum record. In 2018, he also wrote a book of poetry published by Red Hen Press entitled Letters from a Young Father with a foreword composed by David St John.
Edoardo Ponti worked under the mentorship of master filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southern California in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Creative Writing. He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Film Directing & Production from the prestigious University of Southern California, School of Cinema & Television in 1997. He currently serves on the board of USC’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.