---
name: "Matteo Garrone"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/matteo-garrone"
fi1m_id: "matteo-garrone"
imdb_id: "nm0308520"
tmdb_id: 63973
wikidata_id: "Q940107"
roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"]
born: "15 October 1968"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_as: "director"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-03T01:29:39.479748+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Matteo Garrone

## Identity

Matteo Garrone

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/matteo-garrone
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** matteo-garrone
- **IMDb ID:** nm0308520
- **TMDB ID:** 63973
- **Wikidata ID:** Q940107
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matteo_Garrone, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q940107, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0308520/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/63973

Director and writer. Born 15 October 1968 in Rome, Italy.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 15 October 1968, Rome, Italy
- **Active:** 2008–present
- **Also known as:** Маттео Гарроне, 마테오 가로네, 馬泰歐賈洛尼
- **Frequently works with:** [Massimo Gaudioso](https://film.one/person/massimo-gaudioso.md), [Jean Labadie](https://film.one/person/jean-labadie.md), [Massimo Ceccherini](https://film.one/person/massimo-ceccherini.md), [Paolo Del Brocco](https://film.one/person/paolo-del-brocco.md), [Ugo Chiti](https://film.one/person/ugo-chiti.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as director, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 84 (1), 2010s 77 (2), 2020s 78 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 79 to 75 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 4, Crime 2, Adventure 1, Family 1, Fantasy 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $57m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matteo_Garrone, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q940107, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0308520/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/63973

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Io Capitano*](https://film.one/film/io-capitano.md) (78), [*Dogman*](https://film.one/film/dogman.md) (78), [*Pinocchio*](https://film.one/film/pinocchio-2019.md) (76)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Matteo Garrone

> Matteo Garrone makes organised crime frightening by attending to ordinary work, and brings the same patience to people trying to escape hardship. We rate him highly, though crowded storytelling and an urge to be kind sometimes weaken his films.

In *Gomorrah* (2008), Salvatore Cantalupo's tailor Pasquale makes us want to stay with him when the film moves elsewhere. Garrone gives his work importance in a crime film that also finds room for fashion and toxic waste disposal. He understands how frightening ordinary business can become when danger is not confined to an obviously sinister building. Production designer Paolo Bonfini helps by making the locations feel inhabited, rather than prepared for criminal activity.

That interest in people living at the margins was there in his early work on immigration in Rome, including *Terra di mezzo* (1997). *Gomorrah* brought his international breakthrough, but he did not settle into making crime films. The realist dramas *Reality* (2012) and *Dogman* (2018) alternate with the fairy tales *Tale of Tales* (2015) and *Pinocchio* (2019).

The difficulty in *Gomorrah* is keeping track of everyone. Marco Spoletini's editing must move among five stories, and the joins sometimes leave us reorientating ourselves instead of understanding how the Camorra works. Clearer background would help more than another demonstration of cruelty. But Garrone's largely non-professional cast makes the daily routines convincing, with nobody appearing to wait for a big scene.

The single journey in *Io Capitano* (2023) gives him a clearer story to follow. Built from the accounts of people who made the journey, it stays with Senegalese teenagers Seydou and Moussa as they leave Dakar for Europe. Dimitri Capuani's production design gives the family a courtyard house that is never empty, so departure means leaving company behind. We were horrified when Garrone kept the violence outside the frame and held on Seydou Sarr's face, letting the sound carry it.

The problem is that Garrone grows too kind to this boy, and *Io Capitano* loses some of the force its earlier passages earned. It remains worth the evening for Sarr, whose performance never asks us to like him. For Garrone at his least forgiving, choose *Gomorrah*, and give its five stories your full attention.

## Biography

Matteo Garrone (born 15 October 1968) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Rome, he is the son of theatre critic Nico Garrone and photographer Donatella Rimoldi, and a graduate of Liceo Artistico Ripetta. He began his career with short films and won the Sacher d'Oro award in 1996 for *Silhouette*, which formed part of his first feature *Terra di Mezzo* (1997).

Garrone is known for *Gomorrah* (2008), *Reality* (2012), *Tale of Tales* (2015), *Dogman* (2018), *Pinocchio* (2019) and *Io Capitano* (2023). He directed, wrote and produced the latter, which competed at the Venice Film Festival, where he won the Silver Lion for Best Director. The film also received David di Donatello awards for Best Film and Best Director, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. His earlier work includes multiple David di Donatello and European Film Awards.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (4)

- *Io Capitano* (2023), Fi1m 78, Director, Writer, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/io-capitano.md)
- *Pinocchio* (2019), Fi1m 76, Producer, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/pinocchio-2019.md)
- *Dogman* (2018), Fi1m 78, Story, Director, Producer, Screenplay, Camera Operator — [page](https://film.one/film/dogman.md)
- *Gomorrah* (2008), Fi1m 84, Screenplay, Camera Operator, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/gomorrah.md)

## Complete filmography (28)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Malavia* (2026), Producer
- *Les Fantômes du Cinéma* (2025), Director, Screenplay
- *Io Capitano* (2023), Producer, Director, Writer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/io-capitano.md)
- *The Castle of the Tarots* (2021), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Pinocchio* (2019), Director, Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/pinocchio-2019.md)
- *Nevia* (2019), Producer
- *Blue Kids* (2018), Producer, Thanks
- *Dogman* (2018), Producer, Director, Story, Screenplay, Camera Operator — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/dogman.md)
- *Delightful* (2017), Director
- *The One* (2017), Director
- *Before Design: Classic* (2016), Director
- *Tale of Tales* (2015), Producer, Director, Screenplay, Story
- *Mafia Millionaires* (2014), Thanks
- *Thugs with No Legend* (2013), Producer
- *Reality* (2012), Producer, Screenplay, Director, Camera Operator, Story
- *Gomorrah* (2008), Director, Screenplay, Camera Operator — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/gomorrah.md)
- *Mid-August Lunch* (2008), Producer
- *The Caiman* (2006), as direttore della fotografia
- *First Love* (2004), Screenplay, Director, Camera Operator, Story
- *The Embalmer* (2002), Director, Screenplay, Story, "A" Camera Operator
- *Roman Summer* (2000), Director, Screenplay, Camera Operator, Producer, Story
- *Guests* (1998), Screenplay, Producer, Director, Story, Production Design, Costume Design
- *Oreste Pipolo, fotografo di matrimoni* (1998), Camera Operator, Director of Photography, Director
- *The Case of Force Majeure* (1998), Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Camera Operator
- *Welcome Holy Spirit* (1997), Director, Camera Operator
- *Land in Between* (1996), Director, Production Design, Producer, Story, Screenplay
- *Silhouette* (1996), Writer, Director, Producer
- *Suffocating Heat* (1991), Second Assistant "A" Camera

## Gallery

- ![presenting the movie Pinocchio at the Berlinale 2020](https://film.one/media/person/11792/gallery-6eceeaf8ac92.jpg) presenting the movie Pinocchio at the Berlinale 2020 — Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/MJK_69508_Matteo_Garrone_%28Pinocchio%2C_Berlinale_2020%29.jpg/1280px-MJK_69508_Matteo_Garrone_%28Pinocchio%2C_Berlinale_2020%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Film director Matteo Garrone at the Berlin Film Festival 2020](https://film.one/media/person/11792/gallery-dfb535d9ce8e.jpg) Film director Matteo Garrone at the Berlin Film Festival 2020 — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Matteo_Garrone-5573.jpg/1280px-Matteo_Garrone-5573.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Film director Matteo Garrone at the Berlin Film Festival 2020](https://film.one/media/person/11792/gallery-7f28bcd22486.jpg) Film director Matteo Garrone at the Berlin Film Festival 2020 — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Matteo_Garrone-5897.jpg/1280px-Matteo_Garrone-5897.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Matteo Garrone](https://film.one/media/person/11792/gallery-fea63c8be3de.jpg) Matteo Garrone — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Matteo_Garrone-5903.jpg/1280px-Matteo_Garrone-5903.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Film director Matteo Garrone in Castiglioncello (Tuscany, Italy) during the festival "Parlare di cinema a Castiglioncello" on June 21, 2008](https://film.one/media/person/11792/gallery-5d2c6e975796.jpg) Film director Matteo Garrone in Castiglioncello (Tuscany, Italy) during the festival "Parlare di cinema a Castiglioncello" on June 21, 2008 — Nicola Filardi (flickr user ozio-bao), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Matteo_Garrone.jpg/1280px-Matteo_Garrone.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 4 won, 7 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Director 2023: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Io capitano*
- European Film Academy Young Audience Award 2021: European Film Academy Young Audience Award (nominated), for *Pinocchio*
- David di Donatello for Best Director 2020: David di Donatello for Best Director (nominated), for *Pinocchio*
- David di Donatello for Best Director 2019: David di Donatello for Best Director (won), for *Dogman*
- European Film Award for Best Director 2018: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Dogman*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2018: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Dogman*
- European Film Award for Best Screenwriter 2018: European Film Award for Best Screenwriter (nominated), for *Dogman*
- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2009: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *Mid-August Lunch*
- European Film Award for Best Director 2008: European Film Award for Best Director (won), for *Gomorrah*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2008: European Film Award for Best Film (won), for *Gomorrah*
- European Film Award for Best Screenwriter 2008: European Film Award for Best Screenwriter (won), for *Gomorrah*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/matteo-garrone