Floria Sigismondi (, born 1973) is an Italian-Canadian film director, screenwriter, music video director, artist, and photographer.
She is best known for writing and directing The Runaways, for directing music videos for performers including Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, David Bowie, Rihanna, Marilyn Manson, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Leonard Cohen, Katy Perry, Björk, The White Stripes, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin fame) and Ellie Goulding, and commercials for brands such as Gucci, MAC, Bulgari, and Nike. Sigismondi has also directed television including two episodes of The Handmaid's Tale and American Gods.
Life and career
Sigismondi was born in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy. Her parents, Lina and Domenico Sigismondi, were opera singers. Her family, including her sister Antonella, moved to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada when she was two. In her childhood she became obsessed by drawing and painting. Starting in 1990, she studied painting and illustration at the Ontario College of Art, today's Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCADU). When she took a photography course, she became obsessed once more, and graduated with a photography major.
Sigismondi started a career as a fashion photographer. She came to directing music videos when she was approached by the production company The Revolver Film Co., and directed music videos for a number of Canadian bands. Her very innovative, but also very disturbing video works, located in sceneries she once described as "entropic underworlds inhabited by tortured souls and omnipotent beings," attracted a number of very prominent musicians. She has further described her works as, "Something quite textural and brutal" and something quite beautiful and light. It's like blending two worlds."
With her photography and sculpture installations she had solo exhibitions in Hamilton and Toronto, New York City, Brescia (Italy), Gothenburg (Sweden), and London. Her photographs also were included in numerous group exhibitions, together with artists such as Cindy Sherman, Joel-Peter Witkin, and Francesco Clemente. The German art press Die Gestalten Verlag has published two monographs of her photography, Redemption (1999) and Immune (2005). Sigismondi also willingly creates her own set props for various music video productions such as, Perfume Genius's "Die 4 U". "If I don't create them myself, I design or draw them, I can get quite tactile detailed as far as what I see."
Filmography
Short film
- Postmortem Bliss (2006)
- Leaning Towards Solace (2012)
Feature film
- The Runaways (2010)
- The Turning (2020)
- The Silence of Mercy (TBA)
Television
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Episode(s)
|-
| 2014
| Hemlock Grove
| "Bodily Fluids"
|-
| 2016
| Daredevil
| "Kinbaku"
|-
|rowspan=3| 2017
|rowspan=2| The Handmaid's Tale
| "A Woman's Place"
|-
| "The Other Side"
|-
| American Gods
| "Come to Jesus"
|}
Music videos (selection)
<!--Music video director links directly here.-->
Director
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" style="text-align:center;" | Title
! scope="col" style="text-align:center;" | Year
! scope="col" style="text-align:center;" | Artist
! scope="col" class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;" | Notes
|-
| "This is My Life"
| style="text-align:center;" | 1992
| Rita Chiarelli
|
|-
| "Not Quite Sonic"
| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;" | 1993
| I Mother Earth
|
|-
| "A Certain Slant of Light"
| The Tea Party
|
|-
| "Save Me"
| The Tea Party
|
|-
| "The River"
| The Tea Party
|
|-
| "The Birdman"
| style="text-align:center;" | 1994
| Our Lady Peace
| version 1
|-
| "Blue"
| style="text-align:center;" | 1995
| Harem Scarem
|
|-
| "Four Leaf Clover"
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 1996
| Catherine
|
|-
| "The Beautiful People"
| Marilyn Manson
|
|-
| "Anna Is a Speed Freak"
| Pure
|
|-
| "Tourniquet"
| Marilyn Manson
|
|-
| "Little Wonder"
| David Bowie
|
|-
| "Black Eye"
| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;" | 1997
| Fluffy
|
|-
| "Dead Man Walking"
| David Bowie
|
|-
| "Makes Me Wanna Die"
| Tricky
|
|-
| "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do"
| Filter & The Crystal Method
|
|-
| "Anything but Down"
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 1998
| Sheryl Crow
|
|-
| "Most High"
| Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
|
|-
| "Chinese Burn"
| Curve
|
|-
| "Can't Get Loose"
| Barry Adamson
|
|-
| "Get Up"
| style="text-align:center;" | 1999
| Amel Larrieux
|
|-
| "I've Seen It All"
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 2000
| Björk
| interactive "webeo" version
|-
| "4 Ton Mantis"
| Amon Tobin
|
|-
| "In My Secret Life"
| style="text-align:center;" | 2001
| Leonard Cohen
|
|-
| "She Said"
| Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
| version 2
|-
| "John, 2/14"
| Shivaree
|
|-
| "Obstacle 1"
| Interpol
|
|-
| "Bombs Below"
| Living Things
| version 1
|-
| "Fighter"
| Christina Aguilera
| JUNO Award 2004 Video of the Year
|-
| "Megalomaniac"
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2004
| Incubus
|
|-
| "Bombs Below"
| Living Things
| version 2
|-
| "Hurt"
| Christina Aguilera
|
|-
| "Die by the Drop"
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 2010
| The Dead Weather
|
|-
| "Cherry Bomb"
| Dakota Fanning & Kristen Stewart
|
|-
| "Fake It Baby, Fake It (La Dame Nature)"
| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;" | 2012
| Living Things
|
|-
| "Anything Could Happen"
| Ellie Goulding
|
|-
| "Try"
| P!nk
|
|-
| "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)"
| rowspan="6" style="text-align:center;" | 2013
| David Bowie
|
|-
| "Mirrors"
| Justin Timberlake
| MTV Video Music Award 2013 Video of the Year
|-
| "The Next Day"
| David Bowie
|
|-
| "Montauk Fling"
| Lawrence Rothman
|
|-
| "#1 All Time Low"
| Lawrence Rothman
|
|-
| "Fatal Attraction"
| Lawrence Rothman
|
|-
| "California Paranoia"
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;" | 2015
| Lawrence Rothman ft. Angel Olsen
|
|-
| "Oz vs. Eden"
| Lawrence Rothman
|
|-
| "Users"
| Lawrence Rothman
|
|-
| "H"
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | 2016
| Lawrence Rothman
|
|-
| "Sledgehammer"
| Rihanna
|
|-
| "Die 4 You"
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2017
| Perfume Genius
|
|-
| "Without Love"
| Alice Glass
|
|-
| "Ain't Afraid Of Dying"
| Lawrence Rothman ft. Marissa Nadler
|
|-
| "Designer Babies"
| Lawrence Rothman ft. Kim Gordon
|
|-
| "Jordan"
| Lawrence Rothman ft. Kristin Kontrol
|
|-
|"Swan Song"
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;" | 2019
|Dua Lipa
|From Alita: Battle Angel
|-
| "Lifetime"
| Yves Tumor
|
|-
| "Into Happiness"
| Phantogram
|
|-|-
|"Destiny"
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;" | 2025
|Ellie Goulding
|
|-
| "Return to Myself"
| Brandi Carlile
|
|-
| "Human"
| Brandi Carlile
|
|-
| "Unholy"
| style="text-align:center;" | 2024
| Sam Smith ft. Kim Petras
|
|}
Cinematographer
- 2000 "4 Ton Mantis", Amon Tobin
Awards (selection)
- 2024 UK Music Video Awards - Icon Award
- 2013 MTV Music Video Award, USA - Winner for Video of The Year, for Mirrors (Justin Timberlake)
- 2004 Juno Awards, Canada - Best Music Video, for "Fighter" (Christina Aguilera)
- 2003 MTV European Awards - Best International Video Award, for Untitled (Sigur Rós)
- 2003 New York Underground Film Festival - Audio/Visual Award, for Untitled (Sigur Rós)
- 2003 Advertising and Design Awards, Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Special Merit Award for Music Video, for "Fighter" (Christina Aguilera)
- 1999 German Kodak Photobook Award, for her book Redemption
- 1998 British Music Video Awards, UK - Nomination for Best Video: "Little Wonder" (David Bowie)
- 1997 MTV Music Video Awards, USA - Nomination for Best Rock Video: "Beautiful People" (Marilyn Manson)
References
Bibliography
External links
- Interview in Revolutionart International Magazine 4
- The Raconteurs' video for 'Broken Boy Soldier' + interview with director Floria Sigismondi.
- CoolHunting.com Video Interview
- A Short Film directed by Floria also with a brief interview
- Commercials, select music videos and a biography at Believe Media
- Official site for the feature documentary 'FLicKeR'
- Fright Club - The New York Times Magazine