Born and raised in Italy, where she graduated from the School of Law at Milan University, Lorena Luciano moved to New York City in 1996 to pursue her career in documentary filmmaking. In 1998 her first feature documentary on Italian iconoclast playwright-performer Dario Fo, a Nobel Laureate in Literature, entered the Venice Film Festival’s official selection. Lorena is the recipient of several prestigious artist grants such as the MacArthur Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Ben & Jerry Foundation, and Chicken & Egg Pictures. Her media work focuses on social issues, the environment, the human rights as well as on the arts. Her films, winners of numerous awards, have been screened and distributed internationally. She lives in New York with her two children and her husband and film partner Filippo Piscopo.