吉安尼·迪·格雷格里奥，Gianni Di Gregorio has loved cinema since he was a child. After a rigorous high school education, he studied literature at college, but eventually dropped out to enroll in Rome’s Accademia di Arti Sceniche, where he graduated in acting and directing. After three years in theater as an actor and assistant director, he switched to being an AD for the big screen, then tried his hand at screenwriting, writing several films. He met Matteo Garrone in 1995 and worked with him as an AD on his films Roman Summer, The Embalmer, and First Love. In 2007, he co-wrote, with Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Massimo Gaudioso, Roberto Saviano, and Garrone, the script for the film Gomorrah. He made his directorial debut with the 2008 film Mid-August Lunch, a hit with audiences and critics alike (winning the Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Best Debut Film Prize at Venice and the David di Donatello for Best New Director).