Anastasia Pierucci

Sometimes you meet a person and right from the onset you sense there’s something special about them. Anastasia Pierucci is that kind of person. Already as a child she exuded this particular aura, this kind of heightened sensitivity which is common in artists.

Truth be told Ana, who was born into a Russian-Italian family – in a typical Luxembourgish melting-pot fashion – grew up surrounded by musicians, actors and dancers. Her mother Maria, a former ballet dancer, has been a prolific classical music producer since her arrival in Luxembourg, and so was her maternal grand-mother back in Russia. ‘There was always a certain theatricality in my family, which fed my subconscious inclination for art’, Ana explains.

Yet, she admits trying to suppress it during her high school years. She wanted to be a biologist, then a psychologist, and even considered going into politics. But destiny caught up with her and her desire to pursue a more creative career grew stronger after her high-school graduation.

Ana embarked first on an acting path in London. But she had already taken some dips in the world of video production and photography. Most notably during a 4-months internship at RTL, and also shadowing the well-known Luxembourg art photographer Jacques Schneider: ‘I started to realise that this could be a path, I just needed more confidence to believe in myself as a filmmaker.’

Eventually Ana decided to apply to the University of Southern California, where she started her Bachelor of Fine Arts in cinematography and film/video production in 2015 and where she graduated last May, in the presence of her proud parents. These four years were not always a walk in the park, she admits: ‘I had many moments of discouragement! I think I depended on people’s opinions and criticism and would get very sad when things didn’t go as I expected. What always put me back on track, though, was my curiosity…. I’ve always had a thirst for discovery and that pushes me out of any negative mind set.’

The music video Grenada - GLASSBOXFAM she directed as part of her finals definitely reveals talent, creativity and a passion for the detail. I’ll let you discover for yourselves.

How does the future look like?

Directing commercials and music videos is what Ana likes to do. One of her goals is to direct fashion/lifestyle commercials one day. What she’s really fond of is creating diversity and bring together unconventional voices, because she feels there is great creative strength in bringing people from different backgrounds and experiences together. Ana explains how she loves guiding actors and actresses into their character. Her favourite part is when they all get together and go over the script: ‘It feels like we are detectives trying to figure out who a particular character is.’ And she enjoys the artistic trust that is created between the director and the actor, which she perceives as very fulfilling.

Place wise, LA has become home. While she enjoyed her time in London and loves the city, Ana felt that LA would be a better place in terms of film studies and subsequent work opportunities. But the passion she’s developed for the City of Angels goes beyond a purely rationale decision-making process: ‘LA has helped me in dismantling the many walls I had surrounded myself with. I also feel understood and accepted by this city and that helped me getting more confident as a human being and as an artist. It helped me to resist less to change and to take more creative risks.’

This being said Ana doesn’t forget her tiny home country Luxembourg. The best part of growing up there, she explains, was being exposed to different cultures and adapting to different traditions, forms of beliefs and customs – ‘having friends with so many different nationalities and being exposed to so many different stories and anecdotes shaped my writing and my imagination.’ 

Since February 19 Ana has been working as a production intern at the LA based marketing and advertising agency The Woo, where she is keen on sharpening her skills and broaden her professional horizon, all while pursuing her activities as a freelance videographer and photographer.

Will we see her walking down some kind of red carpet in the years to come? Who knows what is written in the stars, but my best would be YES. And that day I’ll be even prouder to say that Anastasia Pierucci directed me some time ago in a short clip about “a common day in Luxembourg with a not so common girl”.