Marilena Delli Umuhoza is an Italian-Rwandan photographer, filmmaker, and author. For the past twelve years she has partnered with American Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan. Her work has been featured in the likes of BBC, CNN, NPR, Rolling Stone, and focus on artists from under-represented countries like Rwanda, Malawi, South Sudan, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Romania. Brennan and Delli’s work on the Grammy-nominated Zomba Prison Project album was featured on the front-page of the New York Times and in an Emmy-winning segment of 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper reporting.
Marilena is also a right activist who has written two books about racism in Italy. These books are based on her personal experience growing up with an immigrant mother in one of Italy's most conservative regions.
Marilena is the curator of a national radio show in Italy devoted to Italian African descendants. She also hosts a Podcast featuring Italians of foreign origin speaking about racism, music, and topical issues. For over a decade, Delli has been speaking publicly about institutional racism within Italy and advocating for changes to the existing citizenship laws.
In 2020, Marilena was named one of the "50 Women of the Year” (2020) by the major Italian national daily newspaper, La Repubblica.
Author&Photographer
-Antidoti contro la rabbia (Anger Antidotes) -translation
-Razzismo all'italiana (Racism Italian Style) -memoir
-How music dies -photos
-Silenced by sound -photos
-Negretta: baci razzisti (Little Black Girl: Racist Kisses)- novel
Independent videographer
Sainkho Namtchylak feat. Tinariwen
Kong Nai & Khmer Rouge Survivors
Speaker
Istituto Italiano di Cultura, San Francisco
Festival del Cinema d'Africa, Asia e America Latina, Milano
Università di Urbino
Biblioteca Nazionale, Torino
Accademia delle Scienze, Roma
Collina Italiana, New York
Università degli Studi di Parma
Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Como
Teatro Metastasio, Prato
Festival Ottobre Africano, Roma
Università Migrante, Milano
News
Comorian, "We Are An Island, But We're Not Alone": a great review by The London Times.
Ustad Saami, Pakistan Is For The Peaceful got nominated in the ASIA category of the Songlines Music Awards 2021.
Witch Camp Ghana, "I've Forgotten Now Who I Used To Be" is now available. Read the outstanding review by The Guardian and NPR.
The Good Ones from Rwanda are featured in The Guardian as one of "the best global artists The Grammys forgot".
The Good Ones from Rwanda are guests at NPR Tiny Desk Concerts. Watch the video recorded inside Adrien's hut, one day after the flood that displaced thousands of people and killed a dozen.
The Malawi Mouse Boys are guests at NPR Tiny Desk Concerts. Watch the video recorded at Muligo's village, in front of his hut.
