Stefano Sollima (; born 4 May 1966) is an Italian director and screenwriter.

He is best known for his gritty crime-drama films such as ACAB – All Cops Are Bastards (2012), Suburra (2015), and Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), as well as the television series Romanzo criminale – La serie (2006–2008), Gomorrah (2014–2021), and ZeroZeroZero (2020).

Early life Born in Rome, Sollima is the son of Italian cult director and screenwriter Sergio Sollima. He started his career as a camera operator realizing numerous reports from war zones for several television networks, including CNN, CBS, and NBC.

Career In 1991, he made his debut as a director with the short film Thanks (), presented at the Turin Film Festival. His 1993 short film Sotto le unghie was entered at the International Critics' Week section of the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. In 2003, Sollima wrote and directed black-and-white short film Zippo, which was presented in competition at the 2003 Venice Film Festival and at the Sitges Film Festival.

Sollima started working as a television director in 1998 with the soap opera Un posto al sole, before directing episodes of several television series like La squadra (2003–2007), Ho sposato un calciatore (2005), and Crimes (2006–2007). He made his breakout in 2008 thanks to the acclaimed Sky Cinema crime series Romanzo criminale – La serie, based on the 2002 book of the same name by judge Giancarlo De Cataldo. Sollima directed all the 22 episodes of the series, which ran for two seasons from 2008 to 2010, winning the Best Television Director award at the 2009 Flaiano International Prizes.

In 2012 Sollima made his feature film debut with the police brutality drama ACAB – All Cops Are Bastards, for which he received a David di Donatello and a Nastro d'Argento nomination for the Best New Director award. From 2014, he served as the main director of Sky Cinema's acclaimed crime-drama series Gomorrah, based on the 2006 non-fiction book of the same name by Roberto Saviano and its previous film adaptation. After directing various episodes of the first and the second season of the show, Sollima dropped out of the series in 2016 due to schedule conflicts with his other future projects. He then directed the ensemble crime-drama film Suburra (2015), co-produced by Netflix, which brought him another Nastro d'Argento nomination, this time for Best Director. In 2017 the movie was adapted by Netflix into a prequel television series, the first Italian Netflix Original Series.

In 2018, Sollima made his English language film debut with the action crime thriller Sicario: Day of the Soldado, described as an "anthological sequel" to Sicario (2015), starring Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin.

The same year, he began shooting the internationally co-produced crime TV series ZeroZeroZero, which he also co-created, about global cocaine trade from South America to Europe. Based on Roberto Saviano's non-fiction book of the same name, the show stars Dane DeHaan, Gabriel Byrne and Andrea Riseborough.

AlterEgo

AlterEgo S.r.l., doing business as AlterEgo, is an Italian film and television production company. It was founded by Stefano Sollima, Gina Gardini and Ludovico Purgatori.

History In 2024 it was announced that Stefano Sollima, Gina Gardini and Ludovico Purgatori had founded the production company AlterEgo. In 2023 it made its theatrical debut with Adagio (2023 film), a film by Stefano Sollima, produced in collaboration with The Apartment (production company) and distributed by Vision Distribution, which had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Lion. In 2024 AlterEgo signed an exclusive first-look deal with Fremantle (company) to collaborate on the development of original films and series. In 2025 they produced The Monster of Florence (2025 miniseries), a four-episode TV series directed by Stefano Sollima, produced in collaboration with The Apartment for Netflix, and presented at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.

Filmography

Feature films YearTitleNotes2012ACAB – All Cops Are Bastards2015Suburra 2018Sicario: Day of the Soldado2021Without Remorse2023Adagio

Short films Year Title Director Writer Notes 1991 Thanks 1992 Ipocrites 1993 Sotto le unghie 2003 Zippo 2018 The Legend of Red Hand Promoting Campari

Television Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes 1999 Un posto al sole Unknown episodes 2003–2007 La squadra 7 episodes 2005 Ho sposato un calciatore 4 episodes 2006–2007 Crimes 3 episodes 2008–2010 Romanzo criminale – La serie 22 episodes 2009 Mal'aria 2 episodes miniseries 2014–2016Gomorrah 10 episodes 2020 ZeroZeroZero 2 episodes, also creator2025The Monster of Florence 4 episodes miniseriesPublic Disorder Netflix limited series

Music videos "Distratto" — Francesca Michielin (2012)

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Title Result 1992 Turin Film Festival Prize of the City of Torino Thanks 1993 Turin Film Festival Best Short FilmSotto le unghie Cannes Film Festival Canal+ Award 2003 Venice Film Festival Best Short Film Zippo Catalonian International Film Festival Best Short Film 2009 Flaiano International Prizes Best Television Director Romanzo criminale – La serie 2012 Moscow International Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize ACAB – All Cops Are Bastards Russian Film Critics Award Russian Film Clubs Federation Award Golden St. George David di Donatello Best New Director Nastro d'Argento Best New Director Kineo Awards Best First Feature 2013 Golden Graal Best Director — Drama 2016 Nastro d'Argento Best Director Suburra

References

External links