EXCLUSIVE: Oscar nominee Paul Weitz joins Francesco Aram Zenati’s short ‘Chi Mangia Solo’ as Executive Producer

18 September 2026 | By Molly Lipson

Oscar nominee Paul Weitz has joined as executive producer on Chi Mangia Solo, an Oscar-qualifying short film starring Victoria Pedretti (The Haunting of Hill House, You) and Philip Ettinger (First Reformed). It follows an estranged brother and sister who reconnect on the night before selling their childhood home while cooking their late mother’s favorite recipe.

The film is co-written, produced and directed by Francesco Aram Zenati, the former Vice President of Content at BRON Studios (Joker, Pieces of a Woman, Licorice Pizza). It has screened at festivals including HollyShorts, Provincetown International Film Festival, and it just won the Grand Prize in the New England category at Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival. The team are currently developing the film into a feature.

Paul Weitz is a screenwriter, director and producer. Together with his brother Chris Weitz, he worked on well-known films including American Pie and About a Boy, for which the pair were nominated for the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Paul Weitz. Image: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times