Directory Profile

Alessandro Ago is the Director of Programming and Special Projects at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he programs film screenings, festivals, guest speakers and special events. Ago curates Outside the Box [Office], a prolific, diverse screening series dedicated to showcasing new international, documentary and independent cinema at USC, often followed by conversations with the filmmakers. He also oversees the SCA Alumni Screening Series and Movies We Love programs, in addition to several annual Visions & Voices festivals, including a major retrospective of the seminal ABC television series Twin Peaks in 2013; the Official 50th Anniversary Celebration and Retrospective of Planet of the Apes in 2018, including a franchise exhibit in collaboration with 20th Century Fox; and the forthcoming 40 Years of Alien Celebration in Spring 2019.

Ago has produced tributes celebrating the work of Dino De Laurentiis, Ray Stark, John Wayne, Roger Corman, Costa Gavras, Maurice Jarre, Albert Broccoli and the James Bond franchise, as well as world cinema showcases focusing on Japan, Italy, Bollywood, South America and the Middle East. With a special interest in Italian cinema, Ago has hosted events with Roberto Saviano, Mario Monicelli, Lina Wertmueller, Gabriele Salvatores, Claudia Cardinale, Pupi Avati, Marco Bellocchio, Dario Argento and Franco Nero.

Ago has taught undergraduate film courses at USC, including Transnational Nightmares and Filmmaking, Italian Style and, more recently, Italian Genre Cinema and Society. He is also one of the curators of the American Film Showcase, an international documentary film diplomacy program funded by the U.S. Department of State, that has taken him to Cyprus, China, Egypt, Tajikistan, Mexico, South Korea, Bolivia, Peru, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Botswana, Georgia, Romania, Panama, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, India, Chile, Algeria, Colombia, the Philippines, and Armenia.

Both an Italian and American citizen, he grew up in Washington, D.C. and Rome, Italy. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree from the Division of Cinema and Media Studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.