We’re looking forward to introducing you to Paolo Mugnaini. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Paolo, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
I express my gratitude for the day. I drink about 500ml of water, splash cold water on my face, make coffee, get the kids up, do 30 push-ups, make the kids breakfast, and school lunch.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Paolo Mugnaini. I run 1966FILMS, and I make movies that try to say something real about the world we’re living in. Growing up in Rome, I was constantly watching Rossellini, De Sica, all those Italian Neorealist masters who showed me that cinema could be this incredible tool for truth-telling. They didn’t need fancy effects or huge budgets—just honest stories about real people facing real problems.
That foundation stuck with me, but I’ve built my own approach over the years. I pull from different directors, different genres, whatever serves the story. Hitchcock taught me about tension and how to make audiences feel something visceral. Cassavetes showed me how raw emotion and improvisation could create these incredibly intimate moments on screen. The through-line is always authenticity and finding the human element in everything.
I do branded work and documentaries to pay the bills, but the projects that really drive me are the ones that come from my gut.
Right now I’m shopping around Fighting Spirit, this short doc that’s been doing well at festivals. It follows one boxing gym and shows how life and boxing get completely tangled up together—how stepping into that ring becomes the catalyst for building real confidence and resilience that carries over into everything else these kids face.
I’m also developing Anywhere Other Than Here, a narrative feature I wrote about two young women caught in a mall shooting. It’s an intimate story, really focused on what survival looks like when your personal struggles get thrown into chaos with everyone else’s. These issues we see in the news every day—they’re not just headlines to me.
They’re affecting real people in real communities, and I want to tell those human stories that usually get lost in all the noise.
Everything I do, whether it’s a commercial or a passion project, comes back to the same question: does this feel true? Does this help people understand each other a little better? That’s what matters to me.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Trust is everything. That’s what I keep coming back to in my work and in life. It’s trust that holds friendships together when everything else falls apart. Trust that good things can still happen even when the world feels like it’s going to shit. Trust that people will show up for each other when it matters.
When that breaks down, when you can’t trust your neighbor, your government, your own future, that’s when communities start tearing themselves apart.
But the flip side is just as powerful. I’ve seen it in that boxing gym I filmed, and I’ve written about it in my scripts. When people start believing in each other again, when they trust that someone has their back, that’s when real healing begins. It’s not always dramatic or cinematic, but it’s the foundation on which everything else gets built.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
If I could go back and talk to myself when I was starting out, stop second-guessing everything. Your dreams aren’t too big or too crazy. All those people telling you to be “realistic”? They’re just scared for you, or maybe they’re scared for themselves.
The thing is, it doesn’t even matter if you ever fully “make it” or not. What matters is that you throw yourself into it completely, your time, your energy, everything you’ve got.
My dog gets this better than most people I know. When she sees a squirrel, she doesn’t think about all the times she didn’t catch one. She doesn’t calculate her odds or worry about looking stupid. She just goes for it like her life depends on it, every single time.
That’s the energy I wish I’d had earlier, not this constant worry about outcomes, just pure commitment to the thing itself.
So yeah, I’d tell my younger self: forget about catching the damn squirrel. Focus on running as hard as you can and staying true to why you started running in the first place.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
The belief I’ll never let go of is that cinema, whether documentary, branded, or narrative, has the power to create empathy. Stories told with honesty can break through noise and distraction, allowing people to stop, reflect, and, for a moment, see the world through someone else’s eyes.
That’s what drives me with Anywhere Other Than Here. Even though it’s still in script form, the commitment is already there: to craft something that feels real, urgent, and human.
For me, the timeline doesn’t matter. Some projects take years before they’re ready, and that’s okay. What matters is the commitment to show up every day, to keep shaping and refining, to give the work everything I have.
Success isn’t measured by how fast a project gets made; it’s measured by the persistence to stay with it, to remain true to the story, and to never lose sight of why I started.
That’s the promise I’ve made to myself: to give my time, my energy, and my full attention to the stories I believe in, no matter how long they take to reach the screen.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
There is no legacy.
To me, that word lives in the future, and I try my best to live in the present. If there’s something people misunderstand, it might be that I’m chasing after some big monument to leave behind. I’m not. What matters to me is being fully here, doing the work, telling stories that matter, and connecting with people now.
If something remains later, that’s not for me to define — it’s for others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.paolomugniani.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paolomugnaini/
Image Credits
profile Picture by Alex Elena
