Gigi Piola

Gigi was born in Genova in 1965. After earning his diploma at Genova’s Art School, he moves to Milan to attend IED (European Institute of Design) where he obtains a degree. From 1988 to 2000 he works for McCann, Saatchi&Saatchi Milan and London, Tonic, Roncaglia & Wijklander and Red Cell (in the last two agencies as Creative Director). In 2001 he signs a deal as consultant and creative directior for the new positioning of Canal Jimmy (TV Channel) and in the same year he writes “Jimmy Channel. Case-history of a somewhat informal channel” with Mariano Provenzano a best selling book published by Lupetti. His long time passion for cinema and music have led him to work with notables such as: Michelangelo Antonioni, Pat Metheny, Mauro Pagani, Marcello Cesena, Fabrizio de Andrè, Raiss, Renato Zero, Delmar Brown, Teresa de Sio, Gaudì and Casino Royale. His experience as director starts in 2001 and in 2002 he signs with Bedeschifilm on an exclusive basis. In 2002 he wins a Bronze Lion at Cannes Festival and some of his commercials have won prestigious awards such as Cresta NY, Mezzo Minuto d’Oro, AD Spot Award, Key Awards, One Show, Italian Art Directors Club and Epica. He has shot for many clients such as Volvo, Vodafone, UniCredit, Bank
Audi, Mc Donalds, Stimorol, Delta, Mastercard, Plasmon, Unilever and Renault, just to name a few. In 2004 he directed “Radiopanico”, his first short movie based on a novel by acclaimed criminologist Carlo Lucarelli and in 2006 he directed “Scirocco” produced by Discovery Channel London. Both short films earned him top honours at major national and international film festivals. Gigi is currently working on the production of two short movies: “The ending of a love story” and “The night of the falling stars”, both produced by Bedeschifilm. Gigi is also working on two movie scripts.
Gigi is based in Athens and works worldwide.