Gianluca Sodaro was born in Sicily on Christmas Eve. He is a graduate of Milan’s Academy of Fine Arts and Design (NABA). In those years Gianluca was a student of the Maestros Vittorio Fagone (Floridia IT, 1933), a world-renowned Art critic, Gianni Colombo (Milan, IT 1937 - 1993), starring internationally renowned Kinetic Art member and Emilio Isgrò (Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, IT 1937), the historical representative of Conceptual Art/Visual Poetry in the 1960s and whose artworks are exhibited in museums all around the world. Sodaro’s first steps in photography were mentored by photographers Umberto Agnello (Ragusa, IT 1962) and Enzo Nocera (Milan, IT 1944 – 1993).
In 1995, the uniqueness and originality of his language catches the attention of Italian director, Roberta Torre, who invites him to co-write the screenplay for the film Tano da morire (To die for Tano). That film opens in 1997 to great critical acclaim in Italy and around the world winning 3 "David di Donatello Awards" and 3 Awards (Luigi De Laurentiis Award, FEDIC Award and Kodak Award) at the Venice Film Festival.
In 1997 Gianluca gets his first success with the independent short film Una voce! Il mio diletto! winning as Best Italian Short Film at the most important of the Italian short film festivals, "Arcipelago - Osservatorio sul Cinema Italiano" in Rome (Italy). In 1997 Gianluca realizes I Paladini della Santa Provvidenza (starring the actors Paolo Rossi and Gigio Alberti), a silent short that goes around the world through 25 International Film Festivals getting 13 nominations and 5 awards: the prestigious Audience KODAK Award at the 3rd Siena International Short Film Festival (Italy), the Prix du Jury de Jeunes in Metz (France), the Best Short Film Award at the 2nd Festival Corto in Bra (Italy) and the Cinema Prize at the Avanca Film Festival in Spain. This short film is shown and awarded at a large number of festivals including Uppsala, Tampere, Palm Springs, Annecy, Huesca, Brisbane, Locarno, Stockholm, Turin and Berlin, to name just a few.
Considering his artistic and creative skills, in 2003 he is invited as a director, promo writer/producer and copywriter by Fox International Channels to create promos and TV campaigns for the launch of the Fox channels and The History Channel in Italy. In three years at the Fox On-Air and Creative Department he wins 3 Gold Awards, 2 Silver Awards and 2 nominations at Promax BDA World and Europe. For these excellent results, his professional qualities and work ethic is recognized and in 2005 Gianluca gets the "Global Excellence Award" directly from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of News Corporation and Herman Mogollon, Vice President of Fox International Channels and National Geographic Channels International.
In 2004 Gianluca Sodaro makes his first feature film Cuore Scatenato (Raging Heart) that receives the prestigious and coveted recognition of "feature film of Cultural Interest" from the "Italian Ministry or Cultural Heritage and Activities". The US Premiere takes place at the "International Miami Film Festival" in 2004 and Gianluca receives the award for the “Best Cinematography” at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF) in 2008.
In the same year Gianluca Sodaro got in touch with American music composer Angelo Badalamenti (he's best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch) who, after having seen "Cuore Scatenato" with great enthusiasm, called him for a future collaboration. In 2012 Badalamenti makes the original music for God's Got His Head in the Clouds and declares with great enthusiasm: "Gianluca Sodaro has created a marvelous vignette of a film which cleverly poses a simple spiritual question. A duel of sorts commences between a priest and a little girl, as she brings a grievance before him. Their exchange is wonderfully thought-provoking, comical, and slightly absurd in its premise. I must've watched it five times before I finally took a seat at the piano. Bravo!".
The result of their collaboration is extraordinary. The film begins to go around the world, from Europe to the South East of Asia, from the United States of America to Australia. Angelo Badalamenti and Gianluca have together presented the film in Massachusetts at the Berkshire International Film Festival in 2013. To date, in only two years, it's shown in 46 International Film Festivals. "God's Got His Head in the Clouds" gets 41 nominations and 6 awards around the world. The short film receives the Award for the Best Cinematography at the Byron Bay International Film Festival (2014) in Australia, the Grand Jury Prize at the Gasparilla International Film Festival in Florida, the Best Audience Award and the 2nd Award as Best Short Film at the Knoxville Film Festival (2014) in Teneessee, the Best Director Award at the Golden Door International Film Festival of Jersey City (2014) and the Best Narrative Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival (2015) in the U.S.A.
In 2016 Gianluca moves to U.S.A. as lawful permanent resident for his “Extraordinary Capabilities in Arts” and in 2018 Angelo Badalamenti creates the music score for his new project Nowhen (2018) starring Robert Davi. "God’s Got His Head in the Clouds" and "Nowhen" have been shown, nominated and presented with awards in more than 50 film festivals all over the world.
Gianluca has just completed one more short film (as yet unreleased) and the British Oscar winner Rachel Portman (best known for her work scoring films for the movies Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, Emma, Oliver Twist, etc.) has composed its original music.
As artist and photographer Gianluca Sodaro has his first photographic solo exhibition "Ageless - Dolls Have Time To Waste" at the Meno Nisa Contemporary Art Gallery in Vilnius (Lithuania, 2016), at the Radbury in Luxembourg (2016) and at the Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts in Downtown LA (December, 2016). Last August he had the solo exhibition "Sante ma donne" (Holy Women) in Castelubuono (Sicily), at the "FotoFever Photography" in Paris in November 2019 and at the GAM - Contemporary Art Gallery in Catania in October 2021. In 2022 Gianluca exhibits at the MIA Photo Fair - Photo Independent in Milan (Italy). In 2024 his latest photographic project "PRAYGIRL" was exhibited at the Klaipedos Dramos Teatras in Klaipėda (Lithuania).
To be mentioned, at the beginning, the participation in 1995, in the collective exhibition 90s Art in Milan in the Braidense National Library together with Emilio Isgrò, Bruno Munari, Emilio Tadini, Giacomo Spazio, Maurizio Cattelan, Studio Azzurro and others.
Gianluca adores the sound of cicadas.
If you're curious, you can also read his interview for the British Art and Culture magazine Aesthetica Magazine at www.aestheticamagazine.com/interview-multi-disciplinary-artist-gianluca-sodaro
Gianluca Sodaro and Angelo Badalamenti at the Berkshire International Film Festival
(U.S.A. - May, 2013)