Calogero “Cole” Carucci is a filmmaker whose work has screened internationally at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Berlinale, Deauville, Hamptons International, Montclair, AFI, Heartland, BAMcinemaFest, Napa Valley, and more. Carucci produced Tyler Taormina’s Happer’s Comet (Berlinale Forum, 2022; distributed by Factory 25) and Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, 2024; distributed by IFC Films). He recently completed Sue Thunder, Johnny Lightning, his feature directorial debut, which follows a Native American social worker leading a task force investigating missing and murdered Indigenous women in Arizona.
Carucci was raised on Long Island, New York, the son of Jimmy, a construction worker, and Maria, a hairdresser. He draws deeply from his family’s working-class, Italian-American background as a central influence on his storytelling. He is the founder of 19th Floor Productions, a New York–based production company.
His favorite filmmakers include John Cassavetes, Frederick Wiseman, Shirley Clarke, D.A. Pennebaker, Martin Scorsese, Agnès Varda, Sidney Lumet, Robert Altman, the Maysles Brothers, Orson Welles, John Ford, and Allan King. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Savannah, and his dog, Bambino.