Francesca Balbo was born in Milan where she currently lives with her child. Before graduating in political science, she accidentally came across audiovisual culture. She participated in the foundation of the Laboratorio di Sociologia Visuale (Visual Sociology Laboratory) at the University of Milan Bicocca, and after graduating she decided to consolidate her knowledge with a small training course.
She enrolled at the Civica Scuola di Cinema in Milan, and almost without realizing it, she found herself inside a professional path that engaged her full time for several years. Learning new things is always very stimulating, so she also attended a Master in Documentary Cinema at the IED in Venice. Surrounded by the precariousness of work and life, she did a lot of small jobs in various fields and made some reportages, including Colaad, a human being, shot in Somalia in a psychiatric hospital, thanks to the support of GRT, a small Milanese NGO.
In 2009 she filmed in Venice her first documentary short film Senza perdere la tenerezza, screened and awarded in some Italian festivals.
In 2012 Cadenas, a medium-length documentary that was filmed in Mandas, Sardinia, produced by La Sarraz Pictures, was released. Awarded by Società Umanitaria and Cineteca Sarda, winner of the Premio Solinas for documentary cinema and supported by the Italian Ministry of Cultural.
