By Akanksha Harsh Los Angeles is famous for the stars we see on screen, but filmmaking depends just as much on the people behind the camera. Paolo Cerrino is one of those craftspeople. Born and raised in a small town in northern Italy, he grew up making short films with his father and absorbing classic cinema from the golden age of Universal’s monster movies to the avant‑garde visions of David Lynch and Federico Fellini. That early love of storytelling drove him to study ancient and modern literature in high school and to experiment constantly with no‑budget shorts alongside friends who shared his passion. When the COVID‑19 pandemic struck, he seized the moment to uproot his life and move to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking full-time. Four years later, Cerrino has established himself as a director and art director whose projects have been nominated and awarded at festivals, like IndieX Film Fest, LA Shorts International, the Chicago Horror Film Festival, and the Unnamed Footage Festival. Moving to LA and Building a Community Paolo arrived in Los Angeles in 2020 with little more than a suitcase and a portfolio of self‑made short films. The transition from a tight‑...