Delfine Paolini

Delfine Paolini is a Bronx-based writer, director, and visual artist whose work explores thanatological themes through a fusion of psychological realism and visual lyricism. Her debut feature, A Wonderful Way with Dragons, received over 55 international awards, establishing her as a distinctive voice in contemporary independent cinema. Through her company Near Waking Productions, Paolini creates poetic, emotionally charged films that explore faith, madness, loss, and redemption. She is currently developing her international feature Reds Hearten, conceived alongside its companion film Anne, After. Together, the two works form an evolving portrait of moral consequence, grief, and transcendence within the human psyche.

Before filmmaking, Delfine came up through New York’s Bowery arts and punk scenes as a photographer, apprenticing with legendary rock photographer Mick Rock. That early DIY ethos—resourceful, handmade, and fiercely independent—continues to shape her approach to cinema.