James Pellerito

James Pellerito was born and raised in Vicenza, Italy, near Venice. He grew up speaking both Italian and English. At eighteen, James moved to New York to attend Columbia University and received a BA and MFA in Film. He also holds an MA in Art History and Cinema Studies from NYU and worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art for many years. His short film Maree (Tides), shot on location in Venice, screened in over one hundred festivals worldwide and won awards at over twenty-five festivals including Berlin, Rhode Island, USA Film Festival and Cinequest, qualifying it for Academy Award consideration in 2005.

His feature documentary Pop Star on Ice screened at several festivals including SilverDocs, Seattle, Atlantic Film Festival, Doc New Zealand, Frameline, Newport, Edmonton, Vancouver, Outfest, Provincetown, London, Dublin, Cleveland, St. Louis, Ft. Lauderdale, Mexico City, Philadelphia, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, as well as the closing night gala film at NewFest. The documentary had a theatrical release at IFC Center in New York and aired on Sundance Channel and Logo. Following the success of Pop Star on Ice, Sundance Channel commissioned a documentary series leading to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Season 1 of Be Good Johnny Weir aired on Sundance Channel and Logo. Season 2 will air on Logo in 2012.

James is a founder and partner of Retribution Media, a film and television production company based in New York and he also founded the New York City Short Film Festival (NYC Shorts) in 2005. He is a graduate of the two-year Meisner acting program with Richard Pinter of The Neighborhood Playhouse.