The American Society of Cinematographers has welcomed Valentina Caniglia CCS as a new member.
The Italian filmmaker recently lensed the feature Jesus Land, starring Juliette Lewis and based on the New York Times best-selling memoir by Julia Scheeres, for director Saila Kariat.
Caniglia’s credits also include Pomegranates and Myrrh, Isola, 3 Days Rising and Quail Hollow.
Speaking to British Cinematographer about her approach to filmmaking, she revealed: “I grew up around so much art. I studied a lot of paintings and my soul was captured by the way paintings depicted time and space; that’s how I developed my own approach to lighting and framing.”
Born in Naples, Italy, she embarked on her career in London and moved to the United States to study film production at New York University, the ASC explained.
Since graduating, she has worked around the world, winning the Golden Dagger at the Muskat Film Festival for Pomegranates and Myrrh and seeing her film Isola screen at the 2025 Cannes Marché du Film.
Caniglia was selected for the ASC Vision Mentorship Programme in 2019 and worked under the tutelage of Tom Houghton ASC.
She is the first Italian-born woman to become an ASC member.
