Patrizia Bruno – Documentary Director & Writer

Patrizia Bruno

Director & Writer

I tell stories that explore what connects us:
to each other, to nature, and to the places we call home.

Films

GUTS

A Female Expedition Through Africa

64' Documentary · France / Italy · 2025

An African odyssey told through the eyes of women reshaping Africa’s future.

More About the Film

What happens when women abandon rules, roles and logic to follow their GUTS until the end of the road?

Patrizia and Marie leave everything behind for a five-month, 20,000 km journey from France to Guinea-Bissau in an old 4×4, meeting women across Northwest Africa who are redefining their place in society.

From Morocco’s first female mountain guide to women’s rights activists in Mauritania and a new generation of female surfers in Senegal, GUTS is a journey through freedom, intuition and the courage to choose one’s own path.

Main credits

Written & Directed by Patrizia Bruno
Produced by Patrizia Bruno
Co-produced & Cinematography by Marie-Thérèse Pfisterer
Editing by Hunter Hulett & Jean-Charles Couty
Sound by Rémy Akaroa Duprat

Selected festivals

FIFAV – La Rochelle, France
Prix de l’Aventure · Prix Regard de Collégiens

FIC Autor – Guadalajara, Mexico
Best Low Budget Film

Sguardi Altrove Women’s International Film Festival – Milan, Italy
Special Jury Mention

Les Rendez-vous de l’Aventure – Lons-le-Saunier, France
Special Jury Mention

Bilbao Surf Film Festival – Bilbao, Spain
Jury Award

Brest Surf Film Festival – Brest, France
Best Female Film

Portuguese Surf Film Festival – Ericeira, Portugal
Best Woman in Surf Film

Mountain Film Festival – Graz, Austria

Festival International du Film Aventure & Découverte – Val d’Isère, France

No Man’s Land Film Festival – Denver, USA

Lighthouse International Film Festival – Long Beach Island, USA

Festival du Film d’Aventure de La Réunion – Réunion Island, France

Les Écrans de l’Aventure – Dijon, France

Festival des Globe-Trotters – Paris, France

Wipeout Surf Film Festival – Málaga, Spain

Pianeta Mare Film Festival – Naples, Italy

Cinema tours

France Cinema Tour – Around The Waves
Gutsy Girls Special / European Cinema Tour – Surf Film Nacht
Germany · Switzerland · Austria

Broadcast

RTS – Radio Télévision Suisse · Switzerland · 2026
Supported by Billabong Adventure Division

Guardians of the River

Guardianes del Río

Documentary · Colombia / Italy · Coming November 2026

What happens when a river is granted rights? Meet the people fighting to defend them.

More About the Film

In 2016, Colombia’s Constitutional Court recognized the Río Atrato as a legal subject with rights to protection, conservation and restoration.

Told through the voice of the river itself, Guardianes del Río travels through Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities living along the Atrato, where the Guardians of the River are confronting illegal gold mining, pollution and extractive economies while defending a radically different relationship between people, nature and territory.

Main credits

Written & Directed by Patrizia Bruno
Original Concept & Research by Maria Francesca Cavalcanti
Produced by Fargo Film, Tilburg University & Centro Sociojurídico Siembra
Producer: Ludovico de Maistre
Executive Producer: Maria Francesca Cavalcanti
Cinematography by Massimiliano Manzo & Ludovico de Maistre
Editing by Massimiliano Manzo A.M.C.
Sound Design & Music by Emiliano Frediani

Created with

The Guardians of the River Atrato, Centro Sociojurídico Siembra, Maria Francesca Cavalcanti & Patrizia Bruno

Developed in collaboration with

Tilburg University and Centro Sociojurídico Siembra, a Colombian organization working on human rights, environmental justice and the defence of territories and communities affected by extractive activities.

Research project

LOLA – Levels of Legal Pluralism in Abya Yala
Tilburg University
Principal Investigator: Maria Francesca Cavalcanti

Sermersuaq

The Great Ice

Documentary · Greenland

In Greenland, a scientist and a fisherman fight to protect a world that’s melting away.

More About the Film

In collaboration with the University of Barcelona and AXA Research Fund, SERMERSUAQ is a powerful documentary offering an intimate perspective on climate change in the Arctic.

It tells the story of Michael, a hunter from Qaanaaq, the northermost town of Greenland and Marc, a researcher in a quest for truth.

Different proveniences, same common scope, preserving the Sermersuaq, Greenland great ice sheet.

Main credits

Written, Directed & Produced by Patrizia Bruno
Cinematography by Patrizia Bruno

Commercial Work

Clients & Partners

About

I’m an Italian director and writer. I grew up in the Alps, travelling around in a yellow Volkswagen van. I guess I never really stopped.

My films explore the connections between people, nature and the places we call home.

I studied languages, modern literatures and anthropology at the universities of Turin and Lisbon. I started out as a reporter for Italian television before finding my way into independent documentary filmmaking.

Today, I collaborate with local communities, universities, NGOs, brands and production teams. Sometimes with a whole crew, sometimes with just a camera and a backpack. My approach is simple: get close, take the time to listen, and let the stories unfold.

Based in Biarritz, on the French Atlantic coast. Usually somewhere else.

Press & Media

On the other side of the camera: a selection of interviews, podcasts and press features produced by other media, where I talk about my films, my journeys and the people I meet along the way. Click a line to watch or listen. The last one gathers a few pages of my own travel writing.

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