Gabriele Mencaroni is an emerging director and cinematographer. A lifelong enthusiast, after high school he studied at the Luchino Visconti School in Milan and later attended the Accademia Renoir in Rome, where he learned from prominent figures of Italian cinema such as Paolo Carnera, Daria D’Antonio, Daniele Ciprì and Salvatore Landi. He also participated in directing labs and workshops on photography and storytelling at film festivals in Turin and Bobbio.
Since 2019 he's been working in television documentary (RAI) and has actively contributed to high level film productions as a second assistant camera (2AC) or second assistant director (2AD). While living in Milan he explored the visual and narrative language of fashion film.
Alongside his studies in cinematography and directing he developed a passion for stop motion animation, independently creating his first short films which were selected and screened at European festivals dedicated to animated cinema.
During a formative period at Panalight’s rental house in Rome he deepened his practical knowledge of professional film equipment from grip and lighting to camera systems. There he became familiar with Arri cameras and their accessories, building a solid technical foundation that informs his work on set.
He draws inspiration from the poor yet epic cinema of Pasolini, the intimate perspective of Alice Rohrwacher and the authentic spaces captured by Ermanno Olmi. Above all he embraces what Tarkovsky called “cinema as a prayer.” His creative universe is also shaped by the work of Terrence Malick, Hlynur Pálmason, Werner Herzog, Ingmar Bergman, Yorgos Lanthimos and Theo Angelopoulos. The list goes on.
In 2024 he co-directed and shot a Spanish language medium length film entirely on location in Tenerife. In the same year, supported by an international crowdfunding campaign, he completed a new short film as an independent project.
He is currently working on several new projects including the development of his first feature film a collection of three forgotten stories about real historical figures. Deeply rooted in realism the film like much of his work is subtly touched by an inexplicable surreal element.
