Yuri Ancarani (born 1972, Ravenna; lives in Milan) is an acclaimed Italian video artist and filmmaker who bridges documentary cinema with contemporary art. His work focuses on hidden, often overlooked aspects of modern life, transforming professional routines—like marble quarrying, deep-sea diving, robotic surgery, and stadium operations—into choreographed, visually hypnotic narratives .
After studying visual arts in Milan, he began gaining attention in the early 2010s with a trilogy of shorts—Il Capo (2010), Piattaforma Luna (2011), and Da Vinci (2012)—that explore the relationship between humans and machines. These works premiered at the Venice Film Festival and are now considered seminal in video art.
Ancarani’s first feature film, The Challenge (2016), earned the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Festival, cementing his cinematic credibility. His most ambitious project to date, Atlantide (2021), premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti section and tells the story of a group of young boat racers in Venice’s sinking lagoon. The film blends documentary realism with poetic, almost dystopian atmosphere and was nominated for the David di Donatello for Best Documentary.
In parallel with his cinematic work, Ancarani has exhibited video installations in prominent venues such as MAXXI Rome, the Guggenheim Museum New York, and the Hammer Museum Los Angeles. In 2023, he curated Atlantide 2017–2023, an immersive exhibition at Bologna’s MAMbo, offering insight into the film’s creative process and Venice’s precarious future.
An educator as well as an artist, Ancarani teaches video art at NABA in Milan and collaborates as a videomaker with Toiletpaper magazine. His work consistently probes themes such as masculinity, ritual, environment, and the transformative power of film. Through his meticulous framing and emphasis on gesture, sound, and materiality, Ancarani invites viewers to reassess the hidden poetry embedded in everyday work and spaces .
