Valentina Esposito (1975). Author and director.

Graduated with top honors in Literature from Sapienza University of Rome, with a diploma from the Enrico Maria Salerno School of Theatrical Arts. From 1995 to 2016, she worked at Ribalta - Centro Studi Enrico Maria Salerno, engaging in cultural promotion and theatrical production with a focus on social issues. In 2003, she debuted with her first theatrical direction at the Piccolo Teatro Studio in Milan as part of the Teatri dello Sport festival with the play "Bocchisiero" by V. Esposito and F. Vaselli. In 2005, she won the selection for the Biennale of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean in Naples with the play "50Lire" by V. Esposito and F. Vaselli, and won the Enrico Maria Salerno Award for European Playwriting in 2007. From 2003 to 2016, she shared the direction of theatrical activities at the C.C. ROMA REBIBBIA N.C. prison. Since 2008, she has directed the G8 Long Penitentiary Section Theater Company, producing various performances in collaboration with Teatro di Roma and Teatro Quirino in Rome. In 2011, she was the organizational manager for the theatrical component of the film "Caesar Must Die" directed by the Taviani Brothers, which won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2012, as well as five David di Donatello Awards and the Silver Ribbon for the Cast. In 2014, she founded and led FACT - FORT APACHE CINEMA TEATRO with actors in alternative measures and former inmates, a structure for training and theatrical production outside the prison, which became a Cultural Association in 2016, of which she is President. With Fort Apache, she produced the shows "Binary Time," "Family," "Non-Human Destination" (winner of the 2022 National Visionaries Award), "Ash Wednesday," and the feature film "Evening Shadows," which was nominated for the 2017 Silver Ribbon, received a Special Jury Mention at the 2016 Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI), Qualification of Film D’Essai with the decree of the Director General of Cinema. In 2020, she wrote and produced, in collaboration with Jumping Flea S.r.l. (MIA International Audiovisual Market, Rome Film Festival 2020; SIFF Shanghai International Film Festival 2021, Borders European Prison Theater Festival, Wroclaw, Poland 2021; RIFF Rome Independent Film Festival 2021 National Documentary Competition; Student Doc Fest V Edition, Rome 2022; Job Film Days, Turin 2022; Best Documentary Award at the Edera Film Festival in Treviso 2022, Audience Award; Best Documentary Award at the Caorle Film Festival 2022; Best Documentary Award at the Vision 2030 Sustainable Cinema Festival in Noto 2022, Best Documentary Award at the Student Doc Fest in Rome 2022). She has been a contract lecturer at Sapienza University of Rome in the Chair of Theories and Techniques of Social Theater (2017/2023), where she also teaches Theater and Prison in the Master's program and conducts workshops. She has published several essays in academic series, and in 2024, Bulzoni will release a monograph with Esposito’s dramaturgies for the Fort Apache Company. Since 1998, she has been leading social theater workshops at various institutions, including Drama Academies, Centers for the Elderly, Universities, Specialization Masters, Accredited Training Entities, Engim S. Paolo, Enaip Lazio, and educational institutions.