Producer / Director of the VENICE FILM FESTIVAL (Italy)

Born in Rome in 1953, Marco Müeller has an education as anthropologist and orientalist (in Italy and in China). Since 1977 he works as a cinema critic and historian (books and lectures on Asian cinema) and he is author of documentaries. After he created the festival "Electric Shadows" in Turin, he directed Pesaro (1982-1989), Rotterdam (1989-2001) and Locarno (1991-2000) film festivals. Inventor of foundations (Hubert Bals Fund in the Netherlands, Fondazione Montecinemaverità in Switzerland, Fondazione Officina Cinema Sud Est in Italy), since 1997 he is a producer for the new realities he brought up (Fabrica Cinema for Benetton in Treviso, Downtown Pictures in Bologna and Riforma Film in Lugano) with a filmography of 12 titles (among which an Oscar, five awards in Cannes, two in Venice and two in Berlin).

Since 2001 he started academic teaching again (at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio) and he is currently dean of the Conservatory for Audio Visual Sciences in Lugano. From 2004 he is the director of the Venice Film Festival.