ZAPATOS 43

Master of Arts, graduated in Ecclesiastical Decoration and Interior Design from I.S.A. Roma 2, and in Scenography (with a thesis on film direction) from the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, with top marks.
Domiziano Cristopharo is one of the most representative figures of Italian independent extreme and experimental cinema.

Founder and curator of the festival The Optical Theatre, a platform devoted to visionary and research-driven cinema, Cristopharo focuses his artistic language on horror, eroticism, and the body as a space of artistic and identity expression.

Throughout his career, he has collaborated with internationally renowned figures such as Ruggero Deodato, Carlo De Mejo, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Mariagrazia Cucinotta, Lynn Lowry, Lucio A. Rojas, and Venantino Venantini.
As a special effects artist, he has also worked with Romano Scavolini, Alessandro Capone, and Krzysztof Zanussi.

His film Red Krokodil achieved theatrical distribution in Italy, critical acclaim, and a David di Donatello nomination, later reaching the U.S. market.
He directed Nightmare Symphony (2022), the official reboot of Lucio Fulci’s Cat in the Brain, written by Antonio Tentori and featuring music by Fabio Frizzi.
In 2017, he produced and supervised the FX for American Guinea Pig: Sacrifice, distributed worldwide by Unearthed Films.

In 2022, the University of Amsterdam hosted a special screening and roundtable on his film La Perdición, within the academic event “Staging Gender: Sexuality and Embodiment On Stage across Geopolitical Borders.”
In 2024, he stars alongside Lamberto Bava and Fabio Frizzi in the documentary Il Giro dell’Horror.

Together with Dr. Cristo Gil Díaz, he created the first and only documentary about necrophilia in art, featuring Nacho Cerdà (Aftermath), Mark Reeder (Nekromantik 2), and Nico Claux (“the Vampire of Paris”).
The project is supported by the Research Center CUCRA (Cultura Urbana y Creación Audiovisual) of the University of La Laguna (Tenerife) and by the cultural platform Sui Generis in Madrid.

His works have received multiple awards at Fantafestival, Nightmares Film Festival (USA), and Sadique Master (France).
He has been featured in specialized magazines such as Écran Fantastique and WIRED, both acknowledging his pioneering role in reviving Italian genre cinema.

​​Director:

2025 YOKAI: Il libro delle Ombre
2024 FLAMMENTOD (aka PYROMANIAC aka DEATH BY FIRE)
2023 4 HALLOWEEN
2022 ELDORADO
2021 LA PERDICION
2021 Tetromaniac: Confessions of a Necrophile girl
2020 BLUE SUNSET
2020 The House Guest
2020 Tetromaniac: 61: Scorecard Killer
2019 Nightmare Symphony
2018 Tetromaniac: eROTik
2018 The Obsessed
2018/22 What have you done, Daniel?
2017 XPIATION
2017 Mad Macbeth
2016 VIRUS: Extreme Contamination
2014 THE TRANSPARENT WOMAN
2014 DOLL SYNDROME
2012 H. P. LOVECRAFT'S 2 Left Arms
2012 Red Krokodil​
2012 BELLEROFONTE
2011 HYDE'S SECRET NIGHTMARE
2010 BLOODY SIN - Oltretomba
2009 The MUSEUM of WONDERS
2008 HOUSE of Flesh Mannequins