| Lisa Biagiotti | |
| Birth Date: | 20 August 1979 |
| Education: | Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Fulbright Award |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Filmmaker Journalist Storyteller |
| Years Active: | 2007–present |
| Credits: | Sundance Artist, deepsouth, Los Angeles Times |
Lisa Biagiotti (born August 20, 1979) is a filmmaker and journalist based in Los Angeles. She is the director and on-camera correspondent of On the Streets, a Los Angeles Times 12-part series and 72-minute feature documentary on homelessness in Southern California.[1] She directed and produced deepsouth, an independent documentary about poverty, HIV/AIDS and LGBT issues in the rural American South.[2] Biagiotti is a Fulbright Scholar and a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.[3] [4] She is of Italian descent from her father and Hakka Chinese Jamaican descent from her mother.[5] [6]
Biagiotti is an inaugural Fellow in the Sundance New Frontier Artist Residency program in partnership with The Social Computing Group at MIT Media Lab.[7] She speaks publicly about digital journalism, and independently producing and self-distributing films.[8] [9]
For her independent documentary deepsouth, Biagiotti spent two-and-a-half years reporting, driving 13,000 miles and interviewing more than 400 people.[10] [11] She was invited across rural America on a 150-stop grassroots film tour, and was invited to discuss the domestic epidemic at The White House and Clinton Global Initiative.[12] Biagiotti's work has been featured in The New Yorker,[13] The Atlantic,[14] Los Angeles Times,[15] PBS,[16] NPR,[17] Oxford American,[18] and The Lancet.[19] She writes about her 5-year journey of making the film in her Director’s Statement titled Same Virus, Different Disease.[20]
Biagiotti is the producer of The World’s Toilet Crisis, an hour-long documentary that aired on the Vanguard series of Current TV in 2010.[21] She produced short video series for the nightly newscast Worldfocus on WNET on under-reported topics covering homophobia in the Caribbean and the humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo—the latter was awarded a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for International Television.[22]
| Year | Award | Organization | Work | Award Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Fulbright Award | United States Department of State | Research: Muslim immigration into Italy | Study/ Research Grant | Won[23] |
| 2009 | Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights | Crisis in Congo series | International Television Category | Won[24] |
| National News Emmy Award | National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences | War in Congo series | Best Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast | Nominated[25] | |
| 2012 | SHOUT! LGBT Best Documentary | Sidewalk Film Festival | deepsouth | Best Documentary | Won[26] |
| Koronis Fest Special Filmmaker Award | Sidewalk Film Festival | deepsouth | Public Health | Won[27] | |
| Best Documentary and Audience Favorite | Outflix Film Festival | deepsouth | Awards for Best Documentary and Audience Favorite | Won[28] | |
| 2013 | |||||
| Award for Freedom | Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival | deepsouth | Special Programming Award | Won[29] | |
| Official Selection HRW Traveling Film Festival | Human Rights Watch Film Festival | deepsouth | Traveling Film Festival | Won[30] | |
| Award for Best Documentary Feature | Polari Film Festival | deepsouth | Best Documentary Feature | Won | |
| Award for Best Feature Length Documentary | Pensacola LGBT Film Festival / ACLU of Florida | deepsouth | Best Feature Length Documentary | Won[31] | |
| 2014 | Most Captivating Voices of 2014 | HIV Equal Online Magazine | deepsouth | Top 10 List | Won[32] |
| Livingston Award | Livingston Awards for Young Journalists | deepsouth | National Reporting | Nominated[33] |