Giacomo Gentilomo was an Italian film director and painter. He began his career in the film industry at the age of 21, working as a script supervisor and assistant director. Between 1933 and 1937, he was active as a film editor. Gentilomo made his directorial debut in 1939 with Il Carnevale di Venezia. His 1945 film O sole mio received critical acclaim and is considered one of the earliest examples of Italian neorealism due to its use of exterior scenes and non-professional actors. In the mid-1960s, dissatisfied with cinema, Gentilomo decided to abandon films and instead pursued his passion for painting.