Marco Muller

Film critic and historian, director and writer of documentaries about cinema, holds the chair of Production Design at the Academy of Architecture, USI.


Started working in 1978 as a festival programmer in Italy (Consultant for Asian cinema at the Venice Film Festival from 1981 to 1995). Created the “Ombre elettriche” (Electric Shadows) Festival in Turin (1981). Subsequently director of the festivals of Pesaro (1982-1989), Rotterdam (1989-1991) and Locarno (1992-2000). Director of the Venice Film Festival (2004-2011) and of Rome Film Festival (2012-2014).


After one year of head-programming festivals in Mainland China (Beijing IFF, Fuzhou Silk Road IFF), he has directed until November 2016 the 1st Macau International Film Festival and Awards. He is currently Artistic Director of the Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival, the new Chinese festival initiated by the celebrated director Jia Zhangke.


In his parallel career as a film-producer, Müller has produced and co-produced 11 features that include award-winning movies (Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, top-tier honours in Cannes, Venice and other major festivals) from Russia, Central Asia, Bosnia, China, Turkey, Iran and Brazil (he has also produced short-films and documentaries).


He has written and edited several books about Russian and Soviet cinema, programmed Russian films and monographical retrospectives about Russian films and films-makers for all the festivals he has directed. For his contribution to the international promotion of Russian cinema he has received several honours in Russia, the most important of them being the Order of Friendship (Orden Druzhby) state decoration of the Russian Federation.