Kristian Gianfreda is an Italian director, screenwriter and producer.

He was born on 27th March 1971 in Rimini, where he’s living with his family.

 Since he was young he has applied himself to help poor and outcasts. In 1997 he met The Pope John XXIII Community and started his  experience living in the first “Bethlehem Hut “, an emergency evening and night shelter where “invisible people” can find not only a roof over their head but also the warmth of the family they had never had.

From 2011 to 2016 Kristian was the spokesman of the first housing group of Comune di Rimini and in 2016 he was elected city councilman for his social engagement and experience with homeless people.

During this period Kristian knew stories of exclusion, injustice, poorness, loneliness  and was very impressed, so he wished to  give voice to poor and oppressed.

In 2001 It started his audiovisual training with Produzioni L&C, Roma and in 2002 Kristian attended the “CICS” (Interdisciplinary School of Social Communication) with Università Gregoriana. In 2005 he took part to Workshop Documentary in Europe proposed by Festival dei “Popoli di Firenze” for screenwriters and directors.

In 2005 Kristian contributed to writing and production of documentaries for the “2AFILM”  of Antonio and Pupi Avati and in 2009 he worked for “L&C” of Luca De Mata, realizing a series of documentaries (The suitcase of twine and European Muslims) for RAI.

Since 2002 Kristian has been production manager and director of “Audiovisivi Apg23”, the Production Studio of The Pope John XXIII Community.

In these years he produced and directed many documentaries, short movies and social adverts, some of theme are:

Documentaries:

“La strada di Oana” (2005), docu-film about the life of a young trafficked woman ;

“Do you love Jesus?” (2005), docu-film about the life of Father Oreste Benzi;

“Il metodo Apac” (2009), about prisons in Brazil;

“I bambini di Dakka” (2012), about the life of street children in Bangladesh;
“Con gli ultimi sulle strade del mondo” (2012), documentary about the mission of The Pope John XXIII Community;

“So far so close” (2014), about Arab-Israeli conflict;

“Vite in fuga” (2015), about the emergence of migrants from refugee camp in  Lebanon to Italy;

“I ragazzi del carcere minorile di Acireale” (2015), about the situation of young prisoners in Sicily.

Shorts:

“Da un pugno a una carezza” (2008) and  “Oltre le sbarre” (2008), shorts about prisoners in Italy;

“1,1,2,3,5” (2014), about disability;
“Rimini homeless” (anno 2015), about poor in Rimini;

Television:

“Punto a capo” (2005 – 2006) and “Scatechismo”, (2010 – 2012), television programs about  current events;

Animation:

“Thiago y el Caracol” (2014 e 2016), cartoons for deaf and dumb children;

Social adverts:

 “Un pasto al giorno, qualcosa di straordinario” (2010) and “Moments” (2011) fundrising for missionary camps of The Pope John XXIII;
“La mia famiglia esce dal foglio” (2012), for the promotion of Family Homes;

“Per le donne crocifisse” and  “Questo è il mio corpo” (2016, 2017), to report the traffic  of women for the prostitution.

Kristian won many awards and recognitions: In 2012 was the winner of ONP Award for the social advert “La mia famiglia esce dal foglio”, in 2008 received a special mention for “La strada di Oana” and for “1,1,2,3,5” in 2015  at the Capodarco Film Festival. In the same year he won the first prize at the People for Peace e The Prem Rawat Foundation with the documentary “So far, so close”. Also, in 2012 Kristian was member of the jury at the Fiuggi Film Festival.

He achieved the international recognition thanks to his first feature film “Only good things” (2019) that enjoyed the favor of spectators and critics: the film has been rewarded at the Brooklyn Film Festival, at the International Film Festiva in Shangai, at the International Cult Film Festival in Calcutta, at the Indie Fest and Rome Indipendent Film Festival and many others.

Kristian founded in 2017 his own production company “Coffee Time Film”.

In 2020 he produced “Ballerina”, the story of a young woman forced to sell her body.

The short denounces gender based violence and prostitution violence. Ballerina is the winner of numerous international awards and recognitions.