Born in 1981, Mauro Russo is a young director from Salento. After attending the “Accademia Nazionale del Cinema” in Bologna, he immediately dedicated himself to the creation of videos for Sony and Universal labels, thus becoming a reference point for the Italian music scene thanks to his striking style and surreal photography, and adopting a style of b-films inspiration.
He realized more than 300 music videos totaling billions views, reaching the top position on Youtube charts with one of the most watched video ever in italy: Roma Bangkok with 288 million views. He worked with many internationally renowned artists such as Anastacia, Alborosie, CNCO, Protoje, Fedez, Giorgia, Rovazzi, Elisa, Giusy Ferreri, Baby K, Salmo, Nitro, MadMan, Gemitaiz, Noyz Narcos, J. Ax, Marracash, Club Dogo, Noemi, Gigi D’Alessio, Umberto Tozzi, il Volo, Biagio Antonacci, Ana Mena, Marco Mengoni, Fred De Palma, Riki, Nina Zilli, Alessandra Amoroso, Boom Da Bash. Moreover, he directed live performances of Snoop Dog, Sean Paul, Damian Marley and Skunk Anansie. His first film, COBRA NIGHT, is the marriage between his raw style and the rap music scene.
Previously, he also directed the institutional spot of TIM and several national commercials, such as those for Baci Perugina with Fedez, Calliope brands, Switzerland Tourism with Michelle Hunziker, OralB with Michelle Hunziker and Federica Nargi, Playstaion 5 with Rovazzi, Colgate AZ with Cristiano Caccamo, ZZZquil with Francesco Totti and Rovazzi.
After the successful digital release of COBRA NIGHT on Amazon Prime Video Italy, several new projects are already underway, such as the horror short film NAIK about self-lacing shoes inspired by Black Mirror.Cobra Night received nominations in several film
festivals, including:
Fabrique du Cinéma Awards: two nominations for Best Italian Debut Feature Film and Best Italian Actor (Cobra: Gianluca Di Gennaro). The jury is composed by International cinematographic artists. After Willem Dafoe (2017) and Paul Haggis (2018-19), in 2020 the Fabrique Awards is honoured to have Matt Dillon as President of the Jury. https:// www.fabriqueawards.com/
Globo D'Oro: one nomination for Best Feature Film. It's
the Italian Golden Globe. https:// www.globodoro.com/
In 2021 Mauro directed a horror short film. The short film talks about new technologies and materialism.