Leonardo Pirondi (b. São Paulo, Brazil; 1999) is a Brazilian-Portuguese filmmaker who lives and works between Los Angeles, Porto and São Paulo. His films build and inhabit alternative worlds that move between reality and fiction; his filmmaking practice challenges traditional narrative structures that emerge from the fabulation of sociopolitical resonances within culture, history, technology, image-making, and orality.

His films have been exhibited in various festivals worldwide, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the Tiger Short Competition in Rotterdam, the New York Film Festival, Viennale, Mar del Plata, BFI London, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Guanajuato, Ambulante, Media City and many others.

His work has been presented in art centers such as CCCB, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and REDCAT. He has had solo exhibitions at Galeria Mola (Portugal) and Spectacle Theater (New York). Some of his 35mm films live in the UCLA Film & Television Archive collection; some digital ones exist in the Cinematheque of the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro and The Film-Makers' Cooperative in New York City.

He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in film from the California Institute of the Arts and is a Sundance Institute Fellow. His work has been supported by Portugal's Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA), the Allan Sekula Social Documentary Fund, San Diego Underground Arts, and the Tim Disney Prize for Excellence in the Storytelling Arts. He is also part of the selection committee for Badam Film's fund.

Fractais Tropicias, his debut feature-length fiction produced by Bam Bam Cinema, will be his next film.

    • Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA): Portugal's national fund for completion of cinematographic works awarded for the film Fractais Tropicais (2025)

    • Nominee: Tiger Short Competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam (2024)

    • Nominee: Competencia Estados Alterados at Mar Del Plata Film Festival (2024)

    • Nominee: Les nouveaux alchimistes Competition at Festival du Neuveau Cinnéma de Montréal (2024)

    • Nominee: Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance (2024)

    • Award Winner: Best Experimental Film at Brooklyn Film Festival (2023)

    • Award Winner for Best Editing at DTLA Film Festival (2023)

    • Nominee: International Short DOX at DokuFest (2023)

    • Honorable Mention: Onion City Experimental Film Festival (2023)

    • School of Film/Video Dean's Grant for Student Achievement Travel (2023)

    • Patty Disney Center for Life & Work Travel Grant (2023)

    • Tim Disney Prize for Excellence in the Storytelling Arts (2023)

    • Allan Sekula Social Documentary Fund (2022)

    • Nominee for Yugo BAFTA Student Award (2022)

    • Award Winner: Best Experimental Film at Chicago Int. Film Festival: CineYouth (2022)

    • CalArts Student Union Grant (2021)

    • CalArts School of Film/Video Project Funds (2021)

    • CalArts Creative Practice Grant (2021)

    • CalArts School of Film/Video Project Funds (2020)

    • CalArts Student Union Grant (2020)

    • CalArts Student Union Grant (2019)

    • Award Winner for Best Social Commentary Film at Austin Arthouse (2019)

    • Award Winner: Best Surrealist Film at Austin Arthouse (2018)

    • Award Winner: Best Animated Film at South West London International Film Festival (2016)

    • Sundance Ignite Fellowship at MASS MoCA; North Adams, Massachusetts (2023/24)

    • Fundo de Apoio ao Cinema - IndieLisboa & Portugal Film (2024)

    • Peter Stark Scholarship (2021/22)

    • Lillian Disney Scholarship, California Institute of the Arts (2018/22)

    • 2024 - University of Virginia: Art Department; Charlottesville, USA

    • 2023 - University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Department of Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres; Milwaukee, USA

    • 2023 - University of Chicago; Chicago, USA

    • 2018 - Photo & Video Class at Escola Viva; São Paulo, Brazil

    • 2023/24 - When We Encounter the World: Gallery Installation Piece at Galeria Mola; Braga, Portugal

    • 2023 - A Night with Leonardo Pirondi and Zazie Ray-Trapido at Spectacle Theater; New York, USA

    • 2023 - When We Encounter The World, preceding The Night Visitors screening at Maysles Documentary Center; New York, USA

    • 2023 - Earth Grain Pixel: Films by Leonardo Pirondi at Spectacle Theater; New York, USA

    • 2022 - BORDERS: Films by Leonardo Pirondi at Galeria Mola; Braga, Portugal

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