Board Members
Alessia Patregnani (President)
Alessia Patregnani is an actress, producer and dance/voice performer who lives in both Los Angeles and Italy. Her credits include theater performances in Italy (Teatro Stabile of Abruzzo, Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Accademia Nazionale D’Arte Drammatica “Silvio D’Amico” and Teatro La Comunità directed by G. Sepe in Rome).
In Los Angeles, she has worked for Amazon, Disney, E! Entertainment and Netflix. Her on stage credits include The Italian Futurist Centennial, Pirandello’s Henry IV, C. Strickland’s HerSheMe, Fernando Scarpa’s Galileo 1610, and more.
Alessia loves to collaborate with visual artists, choreographers and composers (Bill Viola, V. Pisani, Rudy Perez, L.Bellini, G. Nottoli, A. Gentile). She has also performed special voice narrations in collaborations with The Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra (readings of Dante’s Divina Commedia) and The Rome Chamber Music Festival (Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale directed by E. Stinchelli). She played the leading role in the project Mary by video-artist Bill Viola (permanent art installation at St. Paul Cathedral, London). She always enjoys the experience of being at a place of intersection. Her studies in Theatre, Music, Literature and Anthropology led her to become an enthusiastic cultural activist. She believes that all kinds of creativity can empower every human being to see the world in a different way and reflect on their own life. Dancing Tango and reading Poetry are her favorite leisure activities.
Ana Shametaj (Vice-President)
Ana Shametaj is a filmmaker and theater director. After the conservatory in piano and a diploma in theater direction at Paolo Grassi in Milan, she co-founded in 2013 the artistic research collective Kokoschka Revival, within which she produces as a director, author and multimedia designer. Her stage directions have been performed among others at Piccolo Teatro and Teatro Franco Parenti in Milan (YouFight!, Lars – a portrait of Von Trier), her films in contexts such as Locarno Film Festival and other international festivals (Gli Indocili, Under the God). With Kokoschka Revival, from 2020 she creates digital ecosystems for Design Weeks in Milan, such as Elle Decor Italia exhibitions and showrooms for brands like Hermès and Oniro Group. From 2021 she curates the video direction of several albums by artists such as Ludovico Einaudi, Arto Lindsay, and Redi Hasa. In 2023 she participated at the Italian Pavilion of the 18th Architecture Biennale with the site specific art-work “Sot Glas”. She is currently working on directing the staging of the permanent exhibition at Rocca Ariostesca, where with Kokoschka Revival she will set up “Orlando Furioso” as an exploded multimedia installation work. Since 2022 she has been CEO of Kokoschka Revival Digital Art Studio srl, an eponymous structure of the association founded in 2013.
Claudio Fogu (Treasurer)
Claudio Fogu was born in Rome but has lived in Los Angeles since 1983. Having earned a doctorate in modern European cultural history at UCLA (1995) he has taught at The Ohio State University (OSU) and the University of Southern California (USC), and is currently the head of the Italian Studies program at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). His research interests in 20thcentury visual culture and arts have resulted in articles on topics as different as Futurism, historical feature films, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and the digitalization of historical consciousness. His parallel engagement with issues of social justice has prompted his creation of the online journal Zapruder World: International Journal for the History of Social Conflict.
Francesca De Marco (Secretary)
Francesca DeMarco was born and raised in Southern California, currently lives in Milan, and is Program Director for The Pathway Foundation in Lugano, Switzerland. Previously, Francesca spent 22 years in educational fundraising, most recently as Director of Development at Bocconi University in Milan and before that as Assistant Dean for Development and Alumni Relations at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Third generation Italian-American with roots in the province of Salerno, she holds a Masterʼs degree in Italian from New York University and a Bachelorʼs degree from the College of William & Mary.
Michela Gisotti, Board Member
Michela is born in Rome and educated in Art and Fashion Designer. She has dual Italian/American Citizenship. She is FPA Member “The Foreign Press Association” in London, UK. She has the great opportunity to live in Italy, Miami, London, and Los Angeles. Her career starts as a Costume Designer in the Entertainment World, she has been working for Italian and International Films Projects at Warner Bros, Walt Disney, and Paramount. Michela won a “Quality Award” a monetary Prize from the Italian Government, for Scenes and Costumes, in the film “Rebel Years” an Italo-Argentine co-production, shot entirely in Buenos Aires. She then evolves as an Associate Producer in the Television-Media-Music; Michela was the Creative Director for Music Videos at “Studio M”, here in Los Angeles. She was collaborating in sales and marketing, overseeing International Markets such as MIP, MIPCOM, the Film Festival in Cannes, Napte in Las Vegas, and AFM in Los Angeles. She’s worked for RAI Italian TV UK Bureau in London as Producer for interviews and journalistic services. She is a FPA Member,The Foreign Press Association in London, UK.
Eleonora Granata Jenkinson, Board Member
She began her career with RCS Films and Television in Italy, where she held various acquisitions, distribution and marketing positions and eventually oversaw the company’s worldwide acquisitions and productions from Los Angeles. As an executive, Eleonora has worked Time Warner Turner (Vice President), MGM, Pandora Films (Senior Vice President), and at United Artists for their Golden Globe and Oscar campaigns. More recently, Eleonora has turned her activities towards film festival organization and film production. She has worked for the Taormina Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, and Tribeca Doha. She also directed the Kyiv International Film Festival and the Eurasia Film Festival in Kazakhstan. With her company, Melograno Films, she produced Monica, directed by Andrea Pallaoro, which premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. Eleonora holds a Juris Doctor degree in International Law from the University of Milan, an EEC Graduate Degree in Economics and Law from the Milan Institute of Higher Education, and a Graduate Diploma in International Functions from the SIOI School, Milan, Italy. Melograno Films LLC
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