An auteur is a filmmaker whose style is so distinctive, whose vision is so singular, that their films are unmistakably their own. The films of Antonio Piccillo, an autistic 26-year-old independent filmmaker, are unmistakably his own.
Like a one-man band, Piccillo directs, produces, writes and stars in all of his own films. His style is characterized by long tracking shots and naturalistic conversations contrasted with fantastical plots. The most frequently recurring character in his filmography is Tucson itself. Watching his films serves as an informal tour of the UA campus, as he films everywhere from Old Main to the Library.
Piccillo follows in his parents’ footsteps. His father, Jeff Imig, was involved with Pan Left Productions, a collective of progressive artists creating media centered around social and environmental justice. His mother, Juliana Piccillo, is a filmmaker known for her documentary “The Celluloid Bordello,” which examines cinematic depictions of sex workers.
Growing up watching superhero films such as “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Avengers” inspired Piccillo to create his own movies. His filmmaking journey began when he was a kid. In 2010, he created the short film “Rich Brothers” with his cousin. The loose plot revolves around a pair of wealthy brothers battling the villainous SpongeBob and his crew of pirates.
After stepping away from filmmaking for a decade, Piccillo picked up his camera again in 2020. He is largely self-taught, with some formal training from occasional classes at Pima Community College and the Chuck Williams Master Acting Class. He has screened several of his films at the Loft Cinema’s First Friday Shorts events, even winning $200 for his film “The Tucson Murder Mystery” in 2023.
Nearly no budget goes into each film, but his projects center on ambitious concepts. Last year, his film “The Tucson Multiverse Mystery,” a sequel to “Tucson Murder Mystery,” featured hooded serial killers and mad scientists traveling between the real world and Lego-made dimensions. Piccillo does not limit himself to a single genre; his work spans comedy, fantasy, romance, mystery and sci-fi.
Budget and time constraints have forced Piccillo to make compromises in the past. With no funds to pay his cast and crew of volunteers, locking down a schedule can prove difficult. The production of his film “The Vampire Who Loves” — a vampiric twist on “Romeo and Juliet” — took months due to scheduling delays. These delays, coupled with budget constraints, caused the 36-page script to be trimmed down.
While his films are normally self-funded, Piccillo recently received funding from the Southern Arizona Film Society for their Film Positives Program. According to SAFS’s FilmFreeway profile, the awarded budgets can range from $1,000 to $3,000 and are given to micro-short films that offer positive representations of underrepresented communities, such as “filmmakers with disabilities breaking stigmas.”
Piccillo is using the money to create the short film “The Dinner,” which focuses on strangers meeting at dinner and learning each other’s backstories, with the possibility that one of them could be a killer. Piccillo expressed excitement over finally being able to pay his cast and crew for their work.
In a culmination of his love for the genre, Piccillo is set to release the superhero film “The Adventures of SuperToto” this summer. He also aims to expand his resume by exploring genres he has not yet ventured into, such as film noir.
“My favorite part of making a movie is the connections you get along the way,” Piccillo said. “And you can basically just make something when you have a team, when you have a community with you.”
In between his job and filmmaking, Piccolo is involved with Mountain Springs Community Services who provide Home and Community Based Services to people with disabilities in Tucson.
