Italian-born Czech-based director is a graduate of Prague’s FAMU, where he studied at documentary department. Francesco Montagner’s debut Brotherhood, which tells a story of three adolescent sons of a radical Salafi preacher, who have to face their father's sentence for terrorism, celebrated world premiere at Locarno Film Festival in 2021. The film won the prestigious Pardo d’oro in Cineasti del Presente Competition, aimed at first and second features. In 2022, Montagner world-premiered experimental short documentary Asterion in Locarno’s Pardi di Domani Competition. The director also develops short documentary In the Ark of Michael, which was supported by the Czech Film Fund for development.