Valentina Leotta
- Writer
- Actress
- Production Manager
Valentina Leotta is a screenwriter who also has taught theory and the
techniques of film directing and adaptation of cultural products at
"Sapienza" University of Rome. Born in Catania, Sicily, elder sister of four children, she
originally pursued a career in music. She sang and played violin and
bass guitar in many post-rock bands, friend of Uzeda, Blonde Red Head,
Braniac, Tortoise, Aerial M, Trans AM, Dirty Three, Dianogah, Rachel's.
In 1998 she moved to Rome. There, a car accident and ensuing coma
changed her life plans: she stopped playing music and began composing in another way, writing for film and documentary. In 1999 she helped to found Rome's Video Me-ti Laboratory for realization of short films
and documentaries. She attended Faculty of Communication Sciences at
"Sapienza" University of Rome, where she graduated 110 cum laude/110 in
2005, providing an academic defense of her thesis about
Jonas Mekas and Diary Film. Since 2005 she
has collaborated with director/teacher
Roberto Faenza, with Rai Cinema,
'Jean Vigo Italia [it]', and with
Aseq, a book store specializing in esoteric disciplines and oriental
cultures. Since 2006 she has been the originator and coordinator of
Cinemaster at Sapienza University, a university master on film
profession and audiovisual culture, focused on "learning by doing"
approach. At the same time, working as screenwriter assistant, she
learn by experience and on the job training the art, craft and business
of screen-writing. She also attended several acting schools, including "Teatro Azione" under Isabella Del Bianco and Cristiano Censi in
Rome, and the prestigious "Actor's Center of San Francisco" under
Shelley Mitchell in San Francisco. Her breakthrough came in 2007, when
she was chosen by director Roberto Faenza to contributing screenplay for the film 'The Case of Unfaithful Klara (2009)',
starring Claudio Santamaria,
Iain Glen,
Laura Chiatti and
Kierston Wareing.
In 2014 she received a PhD in Film Studies from the "Sapienza" University of Rome.