Vincenzo Cavallo

Vincenzo Cavallo (also known as Dr. Farasi or Dr. Faras in East Africa) (born 1980, Naples) is an Italian researcher, director, producer and social entrepreneur, the co-founder of Cultural Video Foundation and Cultural Video Production. He directed And Co-produced feature films, television series, web series and more than fifty documentaries on social, political, cultural and humanitarian issues.

Dr. Cavallo is also the founder of the Nairobi BUS an urban collective and popup art venue, an iconic space for the Nairobi cultural scene.

Education and career

Since 2004, Dr. Cavallo has been working in Europe, Africa and Latin America in the field of media, politics, development and culture.

He obtained a Ph.D. in Communication and New Technologies in 2010 at IULM after working for the UN Department Of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and co-founding Cultural Video Foundation and Cultural Video Production.

The title of the thesis he wrote during his Ph.D. is: “Kenya eParticipation Ecologies and the Theory of Games”. He studied how power dynamics are influencing the development of the Kenyan media landscape and how indigenous African forms of political participation are reinterpreted and used to generate on-line communities, mobile networks, radio programs and new forms of hybrid communication systems.

Since 2007, he has been working in Africa and Latin America producing and directing video projects and communication campaigns for United Nations (UN) agencies, such as United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Filmography and Awards

2016 - Connection House, 12 episodes web series, awarded at Roma Web Fest 2016 for best direction and Berlin Web Fest for best Comedy.

2014 - WAZI?FM, feature film, awarded with the Golden Dhow at the 18th edition of the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) in 2015. The film showcases the best Kenyan actors/actresses among them Nairobi Half Life star Joseph Wairimu, House of Lungula's Lizz Njagah, and Rugged Priest's Ojiambo Ainea.

2013 - Pasos de Cumbia, 12 episode television series on Afro-Colombian music that won the CNTV (Chile) award and the co-production award of RTVC (Colombia).

2012 - Napoli 24, film documentary, selected at various international film festivals, co-directed by Paolo Sorrentino produced by Nicola Giuliano.

2010 - Twende Berlin, film documentary, selected at various international film festivals and awarded at AFRIMIX Verona African Film Festival

2007 - Maskaniflani, film documentary, selected at various international film festivals and awarded at International Human Rights Film Festival of Naples

2006 - 24 Hours in East Naples, film documentary, selected at the Videopolis Film Festival

2004 - Mobility Tour, TV series on the European Union Enlargement.

Main Publications

• Springer Book, User-Centric Technology Design for Nonprofit and Civic Engagements, Public Administration and Information Technology, Volume 9, 2014, pp 195-218, Chapter title “eParticipaion Ecologies and the Rise of African Techno- Discourses”: Methodological and Ethical Challenges in Understanding the Role of ICTs in Kenya, Cavallo 2014.
• IGi Global Book, “Human Centered System design for E-Governance”, edited by SaqibSaeed, M. Ayoub Khan, Rizwan Ahmad. Chapter “The eParticipation ecologies of Kenya”, Vincenzo Cavallo, 2012. Kenya e-Participation Ecologies and the Theory of Games
• Goethe Institute Johannesburg, über(W)unden – Art in troubled times, “The Memory of the Crowd”, Sam Hopkins and Vincenzo Cavallo, ed. 2012.
• LNCS Journals, Academic Books & Online Media | SpringerElectronic Participation First International Conference, ePart 2009. “Win WineParticipation model”. Linz, Austria, August 31–September 4, 2009.
• Electronic Participation, Proceedings of Ongoing Research, SchriftenreiheInformatik, Band 31, 2009. “Win WineParticipation model”. Linz, Austria, August 31–September 4, 2009. Conference Proceedings, Paul Cunningham and Miriam Cunningham (Eds). “Win WineParticipation model,” IST Africa Kampala Uganda, 6 May 2009.
• Global Centre for Information and Communication Technologies in Parliament “Win WineParticipation model,” World e-Parliament 2008 contribution.