Biography
Born in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela to Italian immigrants, Agatino Zurría studied Mass Communication at the Universidad Cecilio Acosta in Maracaibo, Venezuela. His first production was a Super 8 short called Domingo en la Mañana, which was official Selection at the Festival de Super Ocho, at Punto Fijo, Venezuela. A couple of years later, he produced and directed his first professional short: "Marialma Centeno's Journey of No Return" (El Viaje Sin Retorno de Marialma Centeno) official selection at the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano in Havana, Cuba. Already established in Miami, Florida, he directed and produced "Interview Me" (2011) which earned him three prizes at the Miami Life Awards event in 2011: Best Short Film, Best Director and Best Actress for Julie Ferrer. He followed it with "Dinner is Served" (La Mesa Esta Servida. 2012) which collected the Best In Show and Best Actress honors at the I'm Not Gonna Move To LA Series as well as the Best Director and Producer Achievement Awards at the Women In The Arts event, 2012, apart from being official selection at the Miami Short Film Festival and was nominated as Best Local and Best Short Film. In 2013 he produced and directed "Faun Moon", which gave his leading actor Luke Grande a nomination as Best Actor at the 2013 Miami Life Awards. Between 2017 and 2019 he produced three music videos, one of which won a Best Editing award at the Venice Film Awards 2020, and Best Instrumental Composition at the Flow Film Festival 2020 (Funeral for Past Loves, by María del Sol). Along with co-producer Aurelina Romero he produced and directed "Clovis" (a dark drama about incest and violence within a family), and "Aurea" (A Steampunk road-movie about 7 travelers who leave their decaying world for Miami Beach). Both shorts were released for festival runs on 2018 and collected several awards at the Sci Fi Miami Film Festival 2018, Best Steampunk Short at the Miami Underground Film Fest 2018 and Best Screenplay at the Hollywood Blood Horror Film Fest 2019, as well as Best Supporting Actress (Lizandra Parra) and Best Child Actor (Demitri Vardoulias). In 2019 he completed the short film "Interview With Marilyn" which has been official Selection at diverse International Film Festivals (Oaxaca Film Fest, Dumbo Film Fest, Prisma Film Fest) and has collected more than 20 awards at the New York Movie Awards, Hollywood Gold Awards, Florence Film Awards, Venice Film Awards, Independent Short Awards in Los Angeles, Flow Film Festival in Fort Lauderdale and Kosice International Film Festival, among others. In 2020 he has directed and produced "Love Distance", a short film about life during Covid19, which has also collected more than 6 awards in its film festival run.
