Francisco Bello, is an OSCAR® Nominated and EMMY winning filmmaker. He studied at the Cooper Union School of Art and after entry level work on films by Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Smith, and Michael Moore (among others), he shot and produced "Salim Baba," nominated for an ACADEMY AWARD® for Best Short Documentary and an EMMY. He then produced and edited "War Don Don," which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, the first Karen Schmeer Award for Excellence in Documentary Editing, and two EMMY nominations. He co-directed "Dreaming Against the World," which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, screened at the closing night of DocNYC and at Asia Society. He also edited "The First Wave," which won Emmys for Outstanding Editing, Outstanding Cinematography and Best Documentary. Additional highlights include editing the SXSW Narrative Grand Jury winning "Most Beautiful Island," writing and editing the Peabody-winning "Best Kept Secret," editing the Emmy-winning "16 Shots," writing and editing the 2022 Emmy nominated films "Desert One" and "Takeover!" He is a member of American Cinema Editors (ACE), the documentary branch of AMPAS and served on the board of Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship. He has been awarded the Estela Award from the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), fellowships from the PBS/WGBH Producer's Academy, the Latino Producers Academy, Tribeca All Access, and grants from the Tribeca Film Institute, Vital Projects Fund, Urban Artists Initiative and Queens Council on the Arts, among others.
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Biography from IMDb.
- Editor, writer, producer and director, also cinematographer
- 16 on MovieCove · 21 credits in all
What are Francisco Bello's films like?
Across their 16 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Power.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 1 · Wry 0 · Earnest 15
A split, not a type: Light 4 · Serious 1 · Dark 11
Grounded 16 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 2 · Charged 7 · Intense 6
Steady 7 · Shifting 6 · Whiplash 2
Straight-faced 13 · Some laughs 3 · Funny 0
Slow burn 10 · Even-paced 6 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 10 · Full focus 4
A split, not a type: Easy watch 3 · Affecting 5 · Heavy 8
Resolved 6 · Open-ended 8 · Ambiguous 2
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet8
- Ambiguous7
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 Francisco Bello's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 10 of their 16 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (6).
Subscription and free streaming for Francisco Bello'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
21 credits, 16 with a MovieCove page.
The Librarians(2025)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
The First Wave(2021)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all films
Takeover (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Apart (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Desert One(2019)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films
The Interpreters(2018)
Midcredits score: 80th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
16 Shots(2019)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Out of My Head(2018)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
ACORN and the Firestorm(2017)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
The Reagan Show(2017)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
Most Beautiful Island(2017)
Midcredits score: 40th percentile of all films
The C Word(2016)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Dreaming Against the World (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)
Landfill Harmonic(2015)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films
23 seconds (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
Best Kept Secret(2013)
Midcredits score: 91st percentile of all films
Code of the West(2012)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Our Nixon(2013)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
War Don Don(2010)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
El espiritu de la salsa(2010)
Midcredits score: 38th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Salim Baba (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Career shape
A full career of 18 titles from 2007 to 2021.
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.
Awards
Nominated for an Oscar in 2008, Best Documentary, Short Subjects.
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Francisco Bello's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 79th percentile, the median of all 16; across their 16 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 80th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up10
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th2
Shape of the crowd
6 of their 16 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Loved with Detractors1
- Divisive1
- Cult Classic3
- Crowd Pleaser6
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the pacing 50/100 in their films, across 7 reviewed titles; fans 57, detractors 31. The element that speaks to their work as an editor.
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 Francisco Bello work with?
People who share at least 2 of Francisco Bello's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Dan Cogan shares the most, 4.
Directors
- Rebecca Richman CohenShared titles: Code of the West (2012), War Don Don (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Rebecca Richman Cohen
Composers and editors
- Fabian CaballeroShared titles: Desert One (2019), The Interpreters (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Fabian Caballero
- Wendy BlackstoneShared titles: Desert One (2019), Out of My Head (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Wendy Blackstone
- Max Avery LichtensteinShared titles: Code of the West (2012), War Don Don (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Max Avery Lichtenstein
Producers
- Dan CoganShared titles: 16 Shots (2019), The Reagan Show (2017), The C Word (2016), Our Nixon (2013)See all 4 shared titles with Dan Cogan
- Regina K. ScullyShared titles: The Librarians (2025), The Reagan Show (2017), The C Word (2016)See all 3 shared titles with Regina K. Scully
- Jenny RaskinShared titles: 16 Shots (2019), The Reagan Show (2017), Our Nixon (2013)See all 3 shared titles with Jenny Raskin
- Carrie LozanoShared titles: The Librarians (2025), The Interpreters (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Carrie Lozano