Giada Colagrande was born in Pescara, Italy, on October 16, 1975. In 1996 she started directing art videos. In 1997 she directed her first short film "Carnaval" (35mm, 13 min.). From November 1997 to December 1999 she worked on the contemporary art project "Volume", which includes artists such as Alfredo Pirri, Jannis Kounellis, Bernhard Rudiger, Nunzio, Raimund Kummer, Gianni Dessi', Sol Lewitt, Maurizio Savini. She directed a short documentary on each one of these artists. In 1998 she directed her second short film "Fetus 4 Brings Death" (35mm, 25 min.). In April 2000 she directed "n.3" (video, 7min.). In 2002 Giada Colagrande wrote, directed and starred in her first feature film Aprimi il cuore (2002) (Open my heart). It opened at the Venice International Film Festival 2002, and then was selected by many international film festivals such as: Tribeca Film Festival 2003 (New York), in competition - Open Roads 2003 (New York) - Paris Cinema 2003, in competition: prix de l'avenir - Sulmona Film Festival 2002: prize for best director - Cairo Film Festival 2003 - Denver Film Festival 2003 - Habana Film Festival 2003 - RomaFilmFestival 2003: prize to the director - Melbourne International Film Festival 2004 - Bangkok International Film Festival 2005, and many others. Aprimi il cuore (2002) was released in Italy by Lucky Red and in the USA by Strand Releasing. Giada Colagrande was nominated for Best Italian New Director at Nastri d'Argento (Silver Ribbon) 2003. In 2005 she directed her second feature Before It Had a Name (2005), which she co-wrote and co-starred in with Willem Dafoe.

Credit: imdb.com