Headshot of Dr.Sonja Bertucci

Dr. Sonja Bertucci

Assistant Professor of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (Film Studies)
  • Profile

    Sonja Bertucci is a Richmond-based filmmaker and scholar. She has an MFA in Film and Video from California Institute of the Arts as well as a PhD in French Literature and Film Studies from UC Berkeley. Originally from France, she has taught at numerous institutions of higher learning in the US (including Occidental College, Temple University, UC Berkeley, and Duke University, among others). In dialogue with her academic research, her films take a poetic-experimental approach to filmmaking and have focused so far on questions of ephemerality, representations of grief and loss, and the struggle for personal and communal survival. Her first feature-length documentary, entitled Stranger from Within, is a personal and political film about Serbian culture in Kosovo. The film won the Special Jury Award at Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival in May 2015 and has since then been shown on national television in Serbia (RTS). Many of her short films have screened at international festivals, and most recently, a documentary entitled Fixing the Earth (2018) made with Laureline Amenieux, will be shown on television in France (November 2018).

    FILMOGRAPHY & SCREENINGS

    MORRIE AND BETTY (expected 2019, HD, 70'). Documentary Post-Prod.
    Script, Camera, Editing

    EVERYTHING COUNTS (expected 2019, HD, 30'). Experimental Short Post-Prod.
    Co-directed with filmmaker Rebecca Baron

    HEALING THE EARTH (2018, HD, 52'). Documentary for Le Mans TV
    (France) co-directed with Director Laureline Amanieux, Expected Broadcast in November 2018

    STRANGER FROM WITHIN (2017, 55’, HD). TV Version.
    Broadcast: RTS (Radio Television of Serbia) 09/13/2018
    Broadcast: TV- Novi Sad 10/06/2017

    A HARD WORLD FOR LITTLE THINGS (2016, Super 8, 2'). Experimental Short
    Commission from The Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles
    Conception, Camera, Editing
    Accolade Global Film Competition: Award of Recognition Film Short 03/08/2017
    NewFilmmakers LA 03/24/2017
    Atlanta Film Festival 03/25/2017
    Athens International Film + Video Festival 04/09/2017
    New York City Independent Film Festival 05/03/2017
    Extremely Shorts Film Festival 05/19/2017
    Seattle International Film Festival 05/24/2017
    Milwaukee Short Film Festival 09/09/2017
    Antimatter Film Festival 10/26/2017
    Video Art and Experimental Film Festival, Tribeca Film Center 11/09/2017

    STRANGER FROM WITHIN (2015, 77’, HD). Documentary
    Script, Camera, Editing
    Ackland Film Forum, Chapel Hill 11/09/2015
    International Human Rights Film Festival, Tirana (Albania) 09/25/2015
    Docudok, Maribor (Slovenia) 08/29/2015
    World Premiere, Beldocs, International Competition, Belgrade (Serbia)
    Special Jury Award 05/08/2015
    Redcat Theater (Los Angeles) 04/29/2015
    SILENCE (2010, 7', HD). Experimental Short
    Script, Camera, Editing
    Redcat Theater (Los Angeles) 05/02/2010
    Monaco Film Festival (Monaco) 04/20/2011
    Video Installation for New Works Festival (Valencia)