Kate diRienzi is an NYC-based filmmaker from Philly. Her films examine explosive emotional landscapes through a lens of strained femininity and queer freedom. 

Before making films, Kate began as a theater director and choreographer. Her first short film, Before We Die, was awarded Best Short Film at the Boston Film Festival. Her second short, Nun’s Beach received an Audience Award at NFFTY in 2025. Kate is currently in pre-production for her thesis film, a queer coming of age romance that follows the spiritual transformation of a rebellious traveller over a disorienting 12 hours in Berlin.

Kate is a 2025 Robert Gore Rifkind Queer Production Grant Recipient, a 2025 Screenwriter Sessions PANO Scholarship Recipient, and a 2024 NYWIFT Scholarship Recipient.

Kate received her BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is now completing her MFA in Screenwriting & Directing at Columbia University.