Francesca Castelbuono

Francesca is a London-based writer and director, and co-founder of the production company Strange Machine. She trained in performing arts at Goldsmiths, before forging skills in production and the wider industry by working with companies including Universal Pictures, New Regency and See-Saw Films. Francesca's short UNDONE, about an encounter between a young woman and an older married woman, screened at Aesthetica, Inside Out, NewFest and Pan-African Film Festival amongst others, and was picked up for distribution by Peccadillo Pictures. Previous work includes THE FLOOD, an allegorical short about the climate and migrant crisis commissioned by the Central School of Speech & Drama, and LYNCH, a short about social phobia and paranoia commissioned by global ad agency DLV BBDO. Francesca was mentored by director Gina Prince-Bythewood, with whom she worked extensively on Netflix's film THE OLD GUARD, starring Charlize Theron and Kiki Layne. Most recently she worked with producer Andrea Cornwell and writer Anna Symon on Apple TV+ series THE ESSEX SERPENT, directed by Clio Barnard. She was also a visiting writer on Season 3 of HBO show, SUCCESSION, as part of the HBO UK Directors Programme.