About


Ugo Petronin (b. 1985, Aix-en-Provence, FR) is a filmmaker with an interdisciplinary approach to cinema blending anthropology and fine arts. Key research themes include human-animal interactions, the process of imagination, metaphorical processes,  and the anthropology of techniques. 

His work has received support from institutions such as the Mondriaan Fonds, Netherlands Film Fonds, CBK Rotterdam, Droom en Daad and Fonds Kwadraat. Some of his films have been shown at renowned international festivals, including IFFR, Oberhausen, Kasseler Dokfest, Ji.hlava, GoShort, IndieLisboa, as well as institutions such as the EYE Film Museum, V2_Lab, Goethe Institute, MACA, HKU, Yale University, Yamagata University, and Boston University.


You can visit him in Time Window near Rotterdam Centraal station where he has the Studio 12. He is always open for collaborations. 

For commission and commercial work please refer to UBELKA FILMS.


DISTRIBUTION

SEE NL International, Eye Film Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Doc Alliance Film, dafilms.com, CZ
Blink Video, DE


EDUCATION

MA Fine Arts & Design: Lens-Based Media, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, NL
BA Film Theory & Practice (honours), Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, FR
DipHE Sociology & Anthropology, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, FR


SCREENINGS, EXHIBITIONS, RESIDENCIES

2024
International Film Festival Rotterdam, World Premiere of Ninfa Fluida, Rotterdam, NL

2023
Hydromedia: Seeing with Water, Symposium, HKU, Utrecht, NL
Campsite Residency, Time Window residency program at TENT, Rotterdam, NL

2022
Kasseler Dokfest, Dutch Program SEE NL, Kassel, DE
TETEM Development Week, Research Residency Program, Enschede, NL

2021
67th Oberhausen Film Festival, Distributors’s program, Oberhausen, DE
Performing The Lens, Collective Exhibition, V2_ Lab, Rotterdam, NL

2020
Yale Student Film Festival, Yale College of Art & Yale film Alliance, New Haven, USA
IndieLisboa Festival Internacional de Cinema
, International Competition, Lisbon, PT
GoShort International Film Festival, Best Dutch Short Film Competition, Nijmegen, NL
International Film Festival Rotterdam x Rauwkost Collectiv, Installation, Rotterdam, NL
Eye Research Labs, Eye Film Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Revolution Per Minute Festival, Slice The Eye ! at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA

2019
Eye on Art Selected Artist 2019, Eye Film Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Op de Grens van Landschap en Abstractie, Exhibition, KUUB Gallery, Utrecht, NL
Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Fascinations Competition, Ji.hlava, CZ
Museum Nacht @ M.A.C.A
, Installation, NDSM Werf, Amsterdam, NL
Maquette, Collective Exhibition, Hilton Hotel, Rotterdam, NL
Yamagata University, Department of Film and Media Arts, Yagamata, JP
Pleinbioscoop, En Plein Public 2019, Rotterdam, NL
The Unseen Festival, Counterpath, Denver, USA
Expanding Bauhaus, Screening Series #03, Goethe Institute & Blink Video, Rotterdam, NL
MIASMA II,
Screening, Piet Zwart Institute + Royal College of Art, London, UK
MIASMA I, Screening, Royal College of Art + Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, NL

2018
The Drift, Selected film script for realisation, Graduation Film, Aix-Marseille University, FR


GRANTS

2023
Praktijkbijdrage, CBK Rotterdam, NL
Kunstenaar Start Grant, Mondriaan Fonds, NL

2022
VR Research & Development Grant, Becoming Soma, Netherlands Film Fonds, NL
Film Production Grant, Ninfa Fluida, Documentary, Stichting Droom en Daad, Rotterdam, NL
PPO, Professional Development Grant, Anthropology Summer School, VU, Amsterdam, NL

2019
Scholarship, Stichting Bekker-la-Bastide-Fonds, Master in Fine Art and Design, Piet Zwart Institute, NL


AWARDS

2020
Best Experimental Film, Abiding, Yale Student Film Festival, Yale University, New Haven, USA

2019
Special Mention Fascinations, Abiding, Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Jihlava, CZ
Best Original Work, Abiding, EYE Museum Research Labs 2019, Amsterdam, NL

2013
Winner International Photography Competition, Dazed & Confused x NOKIA, London, UK


SELECTED COMMISSIONS

2023
Film Director, Sharing Stories on Contested Histories, International Training Program, RCE & Reinwardt Academy, NL
Film Editor, Care & Resilience: Ukrainian Museums in Times of War, DutchCulture Amsterdam, NL
Film Director, Auric, Live Music, London,UK
Location Manager, IDFA 2023, Felix-Meritis, Amsterdam, NL
Theatre TechnicianYellow Horizon by Annemijn Rijk, NL
Theatre Technician, Woman’s Work by Annemijn Rijk, NL

2022-2018
Film Director, Mozart Sonata, Live Performance, Maassilo, Rotterdam, NL
Visual Artist, Prison with Songbirds, Short Fiction, Dir. Ewan MacBeth, Eye Film, Mondriaan Fonds, NL
Location Manager, IDFA 2022, Felix-Meritis, Amsterdam, NL
Film Director, Mozart Sonata, Live Performance, Gotrian Steinweg, Braunschweig, DE
Location Manager, IDFA 2021, DocLab, A-Lab / Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, NL
Guest Speaker, Round Talk: Fill in The Blanks, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, NL
Visual Designer, An Odyssey: Circe by the Orang Collective, Omnibus Theatre, London
Visual Researcher, XY Chelsea, UK/USA, Feature Documentary, Directed by Tim Hawkins, UK


COMPLEMENTARY TRAININGS

Creating the Short: Scriptwriting, NFTS, London, UK
Anthropology & Storytelling Summer School, Vrij Universiteit, Amsterdam, NL
Contemporary Photography Theory, The Photographer’s Gallery, by Jonathan P. Watts, London, UK
Storytelling for Filmmaking
, Goldsmiths University, by Mark Aitken, London, UK