Joe Piscatella

Joe Piscatella

Documentary Filmmaker

About Me

As an award-winning documentary film director, writer, and producer, Joe Piscatella has always been drawn to stories of unlikely heroes who defy the odds to make a difference in the world. Joe’s feature documentary Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower follows 14-year-old Joshua Wong’s fight against the Chinese Communist Party. Braving tear gas, brutal arrests, and the threat of being “disappeared,” Joshua convinces thousands of kids to skip school and take to the streets in Hong Kong in the name of freedom. Joshua won the Audience Award at Sundance 2017 and was one of Netflix’s highest-profile acquisitions of the festival.

Joe’s first documentary, #ChicagoGirl, profiles American teenager Ala’a Basatneh as she helps coordinate the Syrian revolution from her childhood bedroom in Chicago. Facing death threats from the Syrian government and weathering the emotional toll of her social network dying in the streets, Ala’a helps show the world the atrocities of the Assad regime. #ChicagoGirl was one of the first documentaries to smuggle footage out of Syria, and the film won multiple awards – including an audience award at its premiere at IDFA 2013 – and sold in nearly 100 countries, with broadcast partners such as Al Jazeera, Fusion, and Netflix. Joe was also an executive producer on Finders Keepers, which premiered at Sundance in 2015 and was released theatrically through The Orchard.

Mai Khoi & the Dissidents, about Vietnamese pop singer Mai Khoi’s battle against the Vietnamese Communist Party, premiered in New York in November 2019 and is part of the BBC’s “The Why” Collection. Last Known Coordinates, about legendary big-wave surfer Chris Bertish’s attempt to stand-up paddleboard solo from Africa to North America, was a Top 10 film on Apple iTunes. Joe’s writing, directing, and creative direction on the digital shortform series “Food Interrupted” was nominated for an Emmy. He was a consulting producer on the Dude Perfect feature for YouTube Premium. Joe’s latest film, Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law?, profiles Hong Kong’s “Most Wanted” dissident and premiered at Hot Docs 2023, where it was the #1 film in Special Presentations.

Joe has written numerous feature scripts and television pilots for 20th Century Fox, Spyglass, and Touchstone Television. His credits include Disney’s Underdog, Warner Bros.’ Ozzy & Drix, and NBC’s Stark Raving Mad. He has also done production rewrites on big-studio animated films including Kung Fu Panda and Hotel Transylvania.

Joe was a punter for Georgetown University and later graduated from the graduate writing program at the University of Southern California. After a tryout as a punter in the Canadian Football League, he began his writing career as a speechwriter at a consulting firm in Washington, DC, before moving to Los Angeles. He has worked as a food and travel critic (Cooking Light, Women’s Day, and inflight magazines) and been a contributor NPR’s All Things Considered. He once spent a summer as Ted Koppel’s intern. Joe currently lives in Los Angeles, where he coaches Little League baseball and football.