About Me
Gionata Zarantonello was born in 1977 in Vicenza, Italy. During high school he started to write and direct short films. In 1996 he won a prize with "Scriccioli", a short that was showed on local television. He studied in Milan, at the Italian Film School. He did a Cee course (editing on Avid), and Screen writing seminars at University of Bologna. He worked in Milan as Set P.A. and electrician on movie and commercial sets, and on a 2B0 Avid editor for the Olivud post production studio in Rome on commercials, music videos, shorts and documentaries. He had several experiences in Los Angeles. Now he is a writer of several pitches, treatments and screenplays for features and shorts. Gionata was only 22 when, in 2000, he came to industry attention with his first feature, "Medley", a demented, surrealist exposé of the school system, nominated for best first time feature at Nastri d'Agento among other awards. Troma Entertainment bought "Medley". Brought up on the cinema of Dario Argento, Zarantonello also acknowledges the influence of Russ Meyer, Larry Clark and David Fincher, who, he says "use violence as a form of contrast, of ultimate cinematic action." Since then, he has produced an animated series for Universal titled "Frank Cannazzo", the screenplay "The Butterfly Room" (aka "Bloody Mary"), a thriller financed by the state that is currently in pre-production, and worked for Fox on his TV format "Find Me a Man".
