ACADEMY AWARD® Nominee Francisco Bello studied at the Cooper Union School of Art, and has worked in the post-production of films by Kevin Smith, Michael Moore, and George Butler, among others. His recent editorial work includes SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON (ITVS), NEITHER MEMORY NOR MAGIC (MoMA Documentary Fortnight), BETTY LA FLACA (HBO), and JULIETA Y RAMON (Showtime).

Francisco launched Ropa Vieja Films LLC in 2007 with “Salim Baba,” which has screened in over 75 festivals worldwide including Sundance, Telluride, IDFA, Woodstock and Tribeca. In 2008 "Salim Baba" was Nominated for an ACADEMY AWARD® for Best Short Documentary, followed by a News & Documentary EMMY Nomination in 2009.

Most recently, Francisco produced and edited "War Don Don" which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, and for which he was awarded the first Karen Schmeer Award for Excellence in Documentary Editing.

He also recently completed his directorial debut commissioned by HBO Documentary Films, "The Spirit of Salsa" which premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

Francisco has been awarded fellowships from the PBS/WGBH Producer's Academy, the NALIP Producer's Academy, Tribeca All Access, and a grant from the Urban Artists Initiative. He has taught Final Cut Pro editing and post-production at the Cooper Union and continues to balance his time between freelancing as a filmmaker and developing upcoming projects from Ropa Vieja Films.