Annalisa Piras

Annalisa Piras is a London-based Italian-British prominent filmmaker, journalist, producer, writer and activist known for her innovative work that explores political and social issues, particularly within the context of the European Union.

The New York Times wrote: "combining wit and gravitas, 'Girlfriend in a Coma' deftly navigates Italy’s troubled waters, offering both a critique and a celebration of a nation in crisis."

In 2014 Piras wrote, directed and produced with Bill Emmott the documentary “The Great European Disaster Movie” on the crisis of the European Union co-produced by Nick Fraser for the BBC Storyville strand, Claudia Bucher, for Arte TV, Axel Arno for SVT, Swedish public TV.

The film shot in 2014 predicted Brexit, the hardening of the migrant crisis, populism, war in Ukraine,the unravelling of the idealism behind the European integration project.

Laura Boldrini, invited Annalisa Piras and Bill Emmott to screen the film in the Italian Parliament in front of an audience of Rome's secondary schools students.

On 14 September 2016 the director of the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea and of Castello di Rivoli Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, invited Annalisa Piras and Bill Emmott to screen and debate the film at Castello di Rivoli because she said " I watched the movie one year ago and I was very keen to invite the authors because The Great European disaster Movie is a work of Art which belongs to the history of Cinema".

The film looks at Europe's role on the global stage in light of today's transnational security challenges and the shifting sands of geopolitics.

It gained exclusive access for the first time to the work EU's top diplomat, the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policies Federica Mogherini.

As EU senior editor, Piras was part of the initial team which launched Euronews,[7] the pan-European multilingual news television channel, on 1 January 1993 in Lyon, France.

In 2008, Piras' BBC Radio 4 documentary The Italian Patient[9] was shortlisted as the FPA Best Story of the Year by a UK-based foreign correspondent.

Not For Profit In 2013 Piras and Bill Emmott founded the Wake Up Foundation,[13] with the aim to raise public awareness about the current state and decline of the Western Societies through film and storytelling.