Recent graduate wins at CSU Media Arts Fest for two straight years
Film school in San Francisco provides some of the world’s most breathtaking backdrops for a student short. A recent SF State graduate student from Italy discovered something even more desirable, boosting the filmmaker’s burgeoning career and helping him land slots (and awards) at film festivals around the world.
“People are very open-minded. Every day can take you to a new story,” said Pietro Pinto (M.F.A., ’20), who won Best of Show and Best Narrative at the 2021 CSU Media Arts Festival for his film “The Golden Gate.” “That’s the beauty of San Francisco.”
In the 15-minute drama “The Golden Gate,” a young gay man (played by SF State student Franklin Racobs) finds the courage to stand up to his abusive and homophobic mother. It is based on a true story of a friend Pinto met in San Francisco.
Pinto says he values the School of Cinema’s support of independent and experimental film, a reflection of the artist community in the Bay Area as a whole.
“What I appreciate the most is the capacity to accept diversity and to integrate, and to honor and to give pride to diversity. So I felt at home,” he said. “And then there was a little Italian community I got to meet. It was like my start away from my country, and I fell in love.”