Delfine Paolini is a New York-based writer and filmmaker. Part of the New York punk scene as a teenager, photographing live shows, Delfine met legendary photographer Mick Rock and gained the opportunity to become his intern. This experience encouraged her to study visual arts as a means to accompany her writing with imagery. Growing up with Eastern European idols, such as Krzysztof Kieslowski and Andrei Tarkovsky, Delfine set out to create films that engaged the viewer with poetic storytelling and experimental imagery in the hope of ushering individuals toward a more nostalgic experience. Her work was discovered and championed by famed WME agent Johnnie Planco, who represented her for several years before his passing. Planco, who represented such directors as John Cassavetes, Paul Schrader and Robert Altman, was instrumental in guiding her as a filmmaker, and set her on a path toward becoming a director. As a writer, Delfine has had multiple scripts optioned by award winning producers, such as Rene Bastian, and has developed content with French filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz for HBO. Delfine recently completed her feature film directorial debut, "A Wonderful Way with Dragons," starring Violet McGraw, and has begun pre-production her next feature film, "Upstate," which is being produced by Belladonna Productions.

During the pandemic, when the fragility of society became painfully evident, I began to write a story that explored themes of isolation, fear, family and civilization. "A Wonderful Way with Dragons" was borne from wanting to understand what holds a society together. Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to speak about fish-hooks or clay pots or grinding stones. But Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that, in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink, or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. However, a broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Assisting others through adversity defines a civilization. Without the desire to help one another, society devolves. "A Wonderful Way with Dragons" explores the elements that hold a society together; a society composed of six children. Will civilization, with its morals and conventions, disappear, leaving only a heap of broken images from the past? It was my desire to visualize what endures, as well as what fades.