WHO WE ARE
DANIELE RAGUSA MONSORIU
FOUNDER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Daniele Ragusa Monsoriu is an award-winning director. He graduated in Direction and Cinematographic Script at the University of Rome in 2008. After his studies he started working in several film and television productions. In 2014 he took part in the production of Tale of Tales (2015) by Matteo Garrone, nominated for Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He worked as an assistant director on the Lotus Production film Quel Bravo Ragazzo (2016). Among his various productions, he directed 1969 (2015) for the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles brand and Comfortable (2015) for the French brand Prixtel.
His award-winning short documentary Last Ship (2015) was selected by prestigious and Academy Award® qualifying festivals. He also directed American Rhapsody in 2016, Jason’s heavens in 2017, and the award-winning Una Vida Más (2021).
DAVIDE IACONO
CO-FOUNDER
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING
Davide Iacono was born in 1985. He graduated in Humanities (La Sapienza, Rome).
After his studies, he worked for 8 years in various film and television productions. In 2017 he obtained a master’s degree in Social Media Marketing in Milan. In the same year he worked as a scriptwriter for the short documentary Last Ship directed by Daniele Ragusa Monsoriu, which was selected in several prestigious festivals and won the Audience Award at the Brooklyn Film Festival. With the same director, Davide also took part in the production of the short documentaries American Rhapsody (2016) and the award-winning Una Vida Más (2021). He wrote various essays, articles and papers for books (among which Cinema e Medioevo by the Centro sperimentale di cinematografia in Rome), and moderated many conferences as well, delving into the close relationship between human history archetypes and the seventh art. He currently lives between New York and Italy.
GIOVANNA MAURO
CO-FOUNDER
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Giovanna Mauro is a psychotherapist and art enthusiast. Her work as a communication manager for private activities (2018) and a film distribution agency (2017) along with internships and psycho-social services since 2014 (in Terapeutic Communities, as well as Social Cooperatives and Social Intervention Projects) helped her develop skills in community and organizational psychology. She attended piano and dance classes from the age of 7, and took part in hip hop, contemporary and musical stages with internationally renowned dancers, such as David Hazama (2008) and Leslie Wiesner (2012). She loves drawing, particularly charcoal, and is either fond of animation films and the silent era. Together with Daniele Ragusa Monsoriu and Davide Iacono she is the founder of the Dumbo Film Festival and currently lives between New York and Italy.
MARTA LEOCATA
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
MARKETING MANAGER
Marta Leocata is the Marketing Manager of the DFF. She considers herself a world’s kid. Her grandad passed her on the passion for Art and Theatre, which is why she did Classic, Acting and Script studies in the drama Academy “Teatro dell’Accademia” in Catania, leading shows on tour all around Italy such as Munder Mystery Dinner. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Media and Journalism (Catania University). She worked as director’s assistant for the YouTube talk show ATUXTU and in the Marketing Dept of the Magazine Catania Free Mind until she moved to Manchester in the 2015. Since then she worked as Manager and Supervisor for the English companies as: Caffè Nero, Chop’d and Robinsons Brewery. She’s also the co-founder and scriptwriter of a newborn drama company in Manchester. Marta is overall an enthusiastic coffee drinker, cat lover and addicted movie watcher.
AMANDA SARABIA
FESTIVAL COORDINATOR
Amanda is an actor, producer, writer and singer.
She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre & Dance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2016. Throughout her college years, Amanda performed theater for elementary schools and children’s hospitals in Austin. She participated in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, where she explored acting techniques such as Meisner & Stanislavski and Shakespearean dramaturgy. She also studied abroad in Barcelona at the Institut del Teatre under Kari Margolis’ direction of the Margolis Method, and was an assistant dance demonstrator for the Texas Musical Theatre Workshop.
In 2016, Amanda moved to Brooklyn, New York. She has assisted in production for the New York Fringe Festival, A.R.T New York, HBO Latino Film Festival, Katra Film festival; taken classes at Upright Citizens Brigade, Stella Adler, and Ballet Arts; and is a current student at T. Schreiber Studio for Theatre and Film. Her most recent project is one in which she produced, co-wrote and performed called Orgullo by Hip-Hop Artist Dylan Golden.
amanda.dumbofilmfestival@gmail.com
VICENTE SANCHEZ
FESTIVAL COORDINATOR
Vince is a set designer, producer and writer.
He is originally from Venezuela, born to a very mixed family: Spanish, Lebanese, African Latinos and native Venezuelans. He attended the prestigious Arturo Michelena Academy in Valencia, Venezuela, and acquired over 8 years of experience in the theatre industry, becoming a lead actor in several classic and contemporary plays, such as La Casa de Bernarda Alba (2004), Hamlet (2005), Romeo and Juliet (2005-2006), Rock para una Abuela Virgen (2006), El Día que Me Quieras (2010).
Later on, he started pursuing his passion for production and directing, participating as a set designer, costume designer and assistant director, and improved his career in the US with classes / workshops and experimenting on his own in the audiovisual field. Between 2016 and 2019 he worked on the Web Series The Out Talk (2016), Orgullo Music Video (Bowery Film Fest winner), 40 Love (2019), Whatever You Want (2019), Beauty – 2019 (Netflix Original), Finding Ohana- 2019 (International Film).