First-Time Filmmaker, Theresa Ortolani, is an award-winning Interdisciplinary Artist whose work has been widely published and exhibited to include the New York Photo Festival, the Seoul International Photo Festival, and the International Center of Photography. Her books are held in the collections of the ICP and MoMA. A PhD candidate at the European Graduate School, her dissertation, addressing liminality in self-reflexive cinema, is being authored under the supervision of Judith Butler.
"Name of the Father is a masterpiece. I think it’s going to do extremely well in a certain lane that is much needed – cinema as art, pushing the limits. Theresa Ortolani has achieved something incredible. It’s not an easy film to watch; sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but there’s a whole set of people who love cinema and we – thousands of us – are going to love it. Theresa Ortolani has given us a gift. A true artistic achievement. Bravo!” – Stephanie Black
“Theresa Ortolani has developed a new visual language for documentary. A true Artist” – Maryse Alberti
“Profoundly disturbing, beautiful and taking you to the intimacy of an imagined childhood. Theresa Ortolani is touching her life in an utmost singularity, of course, but also universally. The combination of alterity and intimacy and the search of time, neither lost nor gained, time … is this film.” – Hubertus von Amelunxen
"Name of the Father is exceptional – a great story well told in a complex way. [The audience is] me; me and my friends. Anyone who thinks… Film Forum, IFC…” – Elisabeth Biondi
"Theresa Ortolani is that rare and particular type of artist who will not only consistently attempt to grow and define her work in ambitious and challenging ways, but she will ultimately succeed in making them happen – with an astute eye, instinctual, almost preternatural understanding, and with the grit and hard work necessary to bring them into the world.” – Daniel Power