theOscarSite Bio: Francisco Bello has always been obsessed with how images can tell a story. From early years drawing simple comic strips, to his current efforts assembling pictures & sounds as a film editor, his creative development has been consistently centered on the narrative possibilities of visual assemblage.

While a student at the Cooper Union School of Art, Bello began to exchange his pen and brush with cameras and editing equipment. Although his receiving Cooper Union's Robert Breer Film Award helped increase confidence in his new medium of choice, it was his first job on working in the art department for a film by Francis Ford Coppola that crystallized his already strong inclinations to devote his energy to filmmaking. With practically free reign of equipment at his disposal, Bello was allowed to experiment freely, slowly uncovering those themes that would progressively become the focus of his work. "(des)Orientaciones"

Upon finishing his studies, professional work on projects as varied in style, content, and form followed. Believing the cutting room was the best place to learn more about making movies, Francisco worked in the post-production of films from directors such as Kevin Smith (JERSEY GIRL), Michael Moore (FAHRENHEIT 9/11), Barbara Kopple (DANCE CUBA), and George Butler (GOING UPRIVER). It was on the documentary DANCE CUBA, that Bello met Hugo Perez, leading to their friendship and subsequent collaborations.

Currently Bello works at earth2mars, a commercial post-production boutique. His recent editorial credits include Perez's JULIETA Y RAMON (2005), and Caig MacNeill's THE GREY LIGHT, among other promotional pieces for Hugo Perez. For the past year he has been at work producing and shooting a documentary, which follows the struggles of a young parent trying to cope with substance abuse & other personal demons. As this story unfolds, he is seeking funding opportunities to fully realize this logistically and personally difficult project.

Bello hopes to build his filmmaking career alternately as both an editor and a director, because among the many crafts involved in filmmaking, these are processes he believes inform one another most directly. He hopes to continue his involvement in the telling of stories, fiction and non-fiction, that uncover the remarkable in those seemingly ordinary moments in life.

He also served as film editor on BETTY LA FLACA (2006) and NEITHER MEMORY NOR MAGIC (scheduled for 2008).

· Achievement in Documentary Short Subjects 2007: SALIM BABA (w. Tim Sternberg)