Valentina Canavesio is a director and producer of film, television, and branded content, whose 2016 documentary film, Footprint, premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest. Her work also includes producing My Italian Secret (2014), These Birds Walk (2013), Welcome to Detroit (2010), Les Vulnérables (2008). Between them, the films have premiered and screened at SXSW, Hot Docs, Berlinale, True/False, New York Film Festival, and at other festivals around the world. In 2011, she was also a producer for One Day on Earth, a one-day global media event crowdsourcing footage from every country in the world, in partnership with the United Nations and the Ford Foundation.
Her television work includes having produced the highest rated episodes (in South Africa, Peru, and Turkey) of Italian Public television’s longest running show, Linea Verde, about food and culture. Most recently, she helped produce two North American pilot shows: one about hidden stories behind the food we eat, and an investigative news magazine for social and environmental issues. She also produces branded content for clients such as The New School, Bottica Jewelry & Accessories, and Erno Laszlo, a global luxury skin-care company.
Her passion for social justice issues has led her around the world for various NGOs and the UN producing short-form content in places such as the DRC, Pakistan, and the Philippines, often as a one-woman crew. From this work, her film Biblioburro, shot in Colombia, aired repeatedly on PBS and was selected as one of the audience’s favorite stories of the year. The film was later turned into a children’s book that has been translated into five languages.
Valentina holds a BA with honors from the University of Southern California and a Master's degree in international affairs from Sciences-Po University in Paris, France.