Emanuele Crialese (Italian: [emanuˈɛːle kriaˈleːse]; born 27 May 1965) is an Italian screenwriter and film director. He is a native of Rome and studied filmmaking in New York City. Emanuele Crialese was born on 26 July 1965 in Rome to Sicilian parents. He studied filmmaking at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, from where he graduated in 1995. During this time he made several short films including Heartless (1994). His first feature film, Once We Were Strangers (1997), was an Italian-American co-production, funded by a producer who had noticed Crialese during his apprenticeship in the United States. Between 1998 and 2000, Crialese worked in theater and on a drafting of a cinematic treatment of Ellis Island along with producer Robert Chartoff, the producer of Raging Bull and Rocky This was followed by the feature Respiro (2002) starring Valeria Golino. The film recounts an old Sicilian legend about the island of Lampedusa. Crialese won the Critics Week Grand Prize and the Young Critics Award at the Cannes Film Festival for the film.2 The film was nominated for the Best European Union Film at the César Awards and Best Film, David di Donatello Awards. Nuovomondo (2006) premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 8 September 2006 to critical praise and seven nominations at the festival. The film won six awards at the Venice Film Festival, including two awards for Best Film (the CinemAvvenire and Pasinetti Awards), along with the FEDIC, SIGNIS, Silver Lion, and UNICEF awards. It was nominated for eleven David di Donatello Awards of which it won three. It was also nominated for a Golden Lion award and the European Film Award, for the Film of the Year. The film was Italy's submission for the 79th Academy Awards. His fourth feature, Terraferma (2011), premiered at the 68th Venice International Film Festival. The film was selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival the equivalent of third place. In 2012 he won the Mario Monicelli for Best Director at the Bari International Film Festival (BIF&St), Bari for the film. In 2022, he came out as a trans man while presenting his film L'immensità at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, about the relationship between a trans boy and his mother in the 1970s. Crialese said the film was inspired by his own experiences. Description above from the Wikipedia article Emanuele Crialese, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- July 26, 1965 (61)
- Rome, Lazio, Italy
- Director, writer and producer
- 5 on MovieCove · 7 credits in all
What are Emanuele Crialese's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Society.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
A split, not a type: Light 2 · Serious 0 · Dark 2
Grounded 2 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 0
A split, not a type: Gentle 2 · Charged 1 · Intense 1
Steady 2 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 0
Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
A split, not a type: Easy watch 1 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 2
Resolved 1 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Emanuele Crialese's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 3 of their 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (2).
Subscription and free streaming for Emanuele Crialese's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
7 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
L'immensità(2022)
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
Trust(2018)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all shows
Terraferma(2011)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
Golden Door(2006)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
Respiro (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)
Once We Were Strangers(1997)
Midcredits score: 62nd percentile of all filmsCuore Nero (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 7 titles, 6 of them dated from 1997 to 2022.
Biggest box office
Golden Door (2006)
Highest rated
Golden Door (2006)
Most popular right now
L'immensità (2022)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Emanuele Crialese's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 66th percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 64th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up1
- 50th to 74th4
Shape of the crowd
None of their 5 titles divides audiences: 5 are Crowd Pleasers.
- Crowd Pleaser5
Reviewers score the atmosphere 81/100 and the pacing 38/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Emanuele Crialese work with?
People who share at least 2 of Emanuele Crialese's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Filippo Pucillo shares the most, 3.
Writers
- Vittorio MoroniShared titles: L'immensità (2022), Terraferma (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Vittorio Moroni
Actors
- Filippo PucilloShared titles: L'immensità (2022), Terraferma (2011), Golden Door (2006)See all 3 shared titles with Filippo Pucillo
- Vincenzo AmatoShared titles: L'immensità (2022), Golden Door (2006), Once We Were Strangers (1997)See all 3 shared titles with Vincenzo Amato
- Aurora QuattrocchiShared titles: L'immensità (2022), Golden Door (2006)See all 2 shared titles with Aurora Quattrocchi
- Francesco CasisaShared titles: L'immensità (2022), Golden Door (2006)See all 2 shared titles with Francesco Casisa
Editors
- Simona PaggiShared titles: Terraferma (2011), Once We Were Strangers (1997)See all 2 shared titles with Simona Paggi
