​​Writer/Director/Executive Producer


Winner of 17 Best Picture Awards, 8 Best Director Awards, 4 Best Screenplay Awards, 3 Best Cinematography Awards, 3 Best Editor Awards, 2 Best Sound Design Awards at international film festivals, including five nominations for Best Director and Best picture. 


"Zelko's directing is outstanding."​  -Alvaro Gutierrez, Shine On Hollywood Magazine

https://pro-labs.imdb.com/name/nm0954576/​

BIOGRAPHY

           Giovanni Mauro Zelko is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound designer, author and fine-art photographer / painter.  He is best known for writing, directing and executive producing two international award-winning feature films, the neo-noir crime thriller L.A. 4ORCE and the international political thriller The Algerian.  He also executive produced the Shakespeare feature film H4and the neo-western action film, 3 Tickets To Paradise.  In addition to penning 15 feature screenplays, he has also published a book of film theory, "Living the Dream".  In 2007, Zelko released his collection of black & white fine-art photographs & poems as a coffee table book, "Body of Poetry".  He is also an avid traveler, having visited 63 countries where he has photographed global architecture.  His photography & paintings have been presented in galleries in Los Angeles.


            After graduating from Boston University's film school in 1996 with a Bachelor's of Science in Film and a Minor in English literature, he worked as a Hollywood lighting technician on films and television while writing screenplays and directing films.  His nearly 50,000 hours of on-set experience spans 30 years and includes work on many  A-list Oscar winning movies, including Avatar 1 & 2, Mank and Oppenheimer.


Zelko made his feature film directorial debut with The Algerianand gained considerable attention with 19 awards at international film festivals from Los Angeles to London, including Best Director, Best Feature, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Design, Best Editing and an Audience Choice Award, amongst others.  Critics cited the film's expression of the evolving nature of cultural identity and religious perspective in the 21st century as reasons for deeming the feature a poignant social impact film.  His two prior short films, Theogony and The Interview won a number of awards including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actress and Best Fight Choreography at film festivals. The Shakespeare feature film adaptation of Henry IV parts 1 & 2, reimagined as H4, was Executive Produced with Harry Lennix and was chosen as an official selection at the prestigious Chicago International Film Festival, the Stratford Upon Avon Shakespeare Festival, the Boston Shakespeare Society Convention, the Indie Memphis Film Festival, the N.Y. Oktober Film Festival and the British Black & Asian Shakespeare Festival.  Zelko has also Executive Produced the action adventure feature, 3 Tickets To Paradise which he re-imagined in post production as a new commercial version with a new edit, sound and music design, gaining it an international release by Lionsgate.   Zelko’s latest feature film production, LA 4ORCE, has won 31 awards, including multiple Best Director, Writer & Producer awards.  The full festival list and more is available on the Press Kit page of this website.


         In addition to feature films, his production company Zelko Films has also produced multiple music videos, three travel-leisure episodics and is developing a half hour episodic television series, Dante's Inferno.  An avid screenwriter, Zelko has completed a total of 15 feature screenplays, many of which he plans to direct and produce in addition to the two he has already released as writer-director. In addition to writing, directing and producing, Zelko is a true Renaissance Filmmaker who also edits, sound designs, shoots and acts in his films.