Francis DiClemente is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker with a disability who lives in Syracuse, New York. He is the author of multiple poetry collections, most recently Poecabulary (independently published, 2025), The Truth I Must Invent (Poets Choice, 2023), Outward Arrangements: Poems (independently published, 2021), and Dreaming of Lemon Trees: Selected Poems (Finishing Line Press, 2019).
His writing has also appeared in the Chaotic Merge Magazine, Santa Fe Writers Project Quarterly (SFWP Quarterly), Evening Street Review, Bewildering Stories, Narratively, The Millions, Artnet News, Film International, Connotation Press, Primer Magazine, Stone Canoe, and in the books Air: A Radio Anthology (Books by Hippocampus, 2019), Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Inner Strength (2014), and Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak (Harper Perennial, 2009).
He directed and co-produced the documentary short The World Series of Bocce: A Celebration of Sport, Family and Community (2023). The film is available for viewing on the PBS app and for broadcast on public broadcasting stations via The National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA).
He produced and co-directed the documentary short Ralph Rotella: The Sole of Syracuse, which premiered at the Syracuse International Film Festival in September 2023 and was an official selection of the 2023 Culver City Film Festival. It earned a Golden Remi Award at the 2024 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. It was also selected for the New York Documentary Film Awards and the NewFilmmakers NY, Spring 2024 Screening Series.
He co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed the documentary short The Real Bedford Falls: It’s a Wonderful Life, which earned a New York Emmy award in 2021. The film was produced by Honest Engine Films, broadcast on WNET, and distributed by Virgil Films, Kino Lorber, and American Public Television.
His full-length stage play, Beyond the Glass, inspired by the Edward Hopper painting Nighthawks, was produced by a regional theater in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2017.
He received a bachelor’s degree in communications/journalism from St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York, and earned a master of arts in film and video from American University in Washington, DC. He is employed as a senior producer in the Division of Marketing at Syracuse University.
Francis DiClemente 
Hi Fran. I am doing flower arrangement for your program with Wednesday Morning Club. Unfortunately I have an appt that morning so will have to watch recording later. Do you remember our family. You went to nursery school with our son Chris. He came home one day upset and said to his Dad, Fran – Fran D is named after his father – why didn’t you name me Francis!! Also remember going to your house where the basement had a full kitchen. Also, when Fran and I were dating we went to the DeCosty’s (was around Easter of 1966) and your Mom and Grandma were making pasta. Never saw that before and had only had it out of the box! Your parents were so nice and your grandparents too. Have enjoyed reading Dreaming of Lemon Trees and Sidewalk Stories.
Hi Peggy, thanks for the nice note. I sure remember Chris and Amy, and you brought back some warm memories of that time period. I am looking forward to the Wednesday Morning Club meeting! Thanks again and all the best.