Francesco Clerici is an award-winning documentary director. Since 2009, he has been collaborating with the Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai and with contemporary artist Velasco Vitali, as well as teaching courses and lessons for schools and universities (Università degli studi di Milano, Università degli studi di Parma, Università Bicocca di Milano, IULM Milano, Roma Tre, Raffles Milano).
Since 2018 he collaborates with the Museum of science and Technology of Milan filming and documenting Intangible heritages.
Il Gesto delle Mani (eng. Hand Gestures), his first feature film documentary, was presented at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, in the FORUM section, where it won the International Critics’ Award (FIPRESCI). He collaborated with Peter Greenaway for his installation "Mortality with Vitali" at Casa del Manzoni for the exhibition of Giancarlo Vitali in 2018. In the same occasion Palazzo Reale exhibited for three months his documentary then selected at the Busan International film festival. Since 2020 he collaborates also with italian NGO such as CESVI, Coe, RiRes at Università Cattolica in Milan.
His works (which include augmented reality works, books, web series, short films, experimental films and documentaries) have been presented at festivals all over the world (Berlinale, London Film Festival, Viennale, RIDM Montreal, Dok.fest, Leipzig, Sarajevo film festival and screened in locations such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the British Film Institute of London, the Irish Film Institute of Dublin, the Cineteca Nacional de Mexico of Mexico City, the Cinemateca Uruguaya de Montevideo, the Dundee Contemporary Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Barbican, MAXXI in Rome, Palazzo Reale in Milan, MART Rovereto, Documentary Film Center of Moscow, Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia "Leonardo da Vinci" in Milan, MAXXI Museum in Rome, Dundee Contemporary art center, Palazzo Reale in Milan. In 2018, the Grenoble Cinemateque dedicated a retrospective to his work.
