Gia Coppola makes her feature directorial debut with Palo Alto, an impressionistic study of teen angst and parental malaise in an urban community. The screenplay emerged from a collection of short stories by James Franco, whose company, Rabbit Bandini, also financed and produced the film.
Born January 1, 1987, Gia grew up in Los Angeles, where she still resides. She attended Archer School for Girls in Brentwood, California, before entering Bard College, a prestigious liberal arts institution which is noted for its excellent hotography department - Giaʼs intended course of study. Her artistic tendency was to use the camera with personal style, casually documenting life within her field of vision. She made a departure into film noir for project, mimicking stills from noir films using an old light bulb flash during nighttime shoots.
After graduating in 2009 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, Gia began making advertising videos with her friends to challenge herself in another arena. "When fashion companies started hiring us to make short online videos using their clothes, Iʼd think up stories I could tell without too many locations, using my friends as the actors. I was excited by film because it added something to what I was already doing. I liked writing, developing characters, telling a story, and using different, more complex cameras." Among the noted labels for which she shot videos include Wren, fashion designer Zac Posen, Opening Ceremony and Built by Wendy.
As the first grandchild of Francis and Eleanor Coppola, Gia never knew her father, Gian-Carlo Coppola, who lost his life in a tragic accident before she was born. She and her mother, the former Jacqui de la Fontaine, lived in Napa Valley during her toddler years, eventually returning to L.A.
Tribeca Film
