Ismaele Tortella

Country: Norway 🇳🇴

Documentary director and wildlife cinematographer based in Tromsø, Northern Norway.

Ismaele began his career as a wildlife photographer, publishing photojournalism in international magazines and being shortlisted in international photography competitions (Nikon, National Geographic, Photo Montier, Nature Namur).

He moved to Tromsø and started his work as a specialist Arctic cinematographer and documentary filmmaker. His first two short documentaries have been awarded in several international film festivals and presented on national Italian TV – RAI.

Arctic Blue, supported by NFI, NNFS, FFN, and VestNorsk, is Ismaele's debut feature documentary and is currently in production. It has been developed in the Esodoc and Documentary Campus programme. It was shortlisted for “The Whickers Award 2023”, winner of the “Below Zero Award” at the North Pitch 2024 and winner of "WildPitch" from National Geographic at the WildScreen 2024.

Currently, he works as freelance cinematographer and drone pilot with national and international productions such as BBC NHU, Silverback, Plimsoll, Deepsea and DocLights. For documentaries broadcast on platforms like BBC Studios, Netflix, SVT, NDR and ORF.