Joseph Puleo
Documentary Filmmaker
Joseph Puleo graduated from Lindenwood University’s School of Film in 2014. His short film Top Son (2016) was a Top 5 finalist in Kevin Hart’s LOL Network's "Eat My Shorts" competition and screened at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. His debut feature documentary, America’s Last Little Italy: The Hill (2020), about St. Louis's historic Italian neighborhood, aired on PBS stations nationwide. His second feature documentary, A New Home (2022), examines the experiences of Bosnian War refugees in St. Louis, home to the largest community of displaced Bosnians outside Bosnia and Herzegovina. The film won the Mid-America Emmy Award for Best Documentary – Cultural and was nominated for Outstanding Regional Documentary at the 2024 News & Documentary Emmy Awards. His Nine PBS documentary, Percy Green: Man of ACTION, received two nominations for the upcoming 2026 Mid-America Emmy Awards: Documentary – Historical, with Puleo also nominated for Editor – Short Form or Long Form Content.
In 2025, Puleo was awarded the Better Angels Society Lavine Fellowship in support of his documentary Brothers in Blood: Black in Vietnam (2026). In 2026, his documentary Percy Green: Man of ACTION (2025) received two Gold Telly Awards for General Documentary and General Biography and two nominations for the 2026 Mid-America Emmy Awards: Documentary – Historical, with Puleo also nominated for Editor – Short Form or Long Form Content. His films explore overlooked stories from American history and communities whose experiences have shaped the nation's cultural landscape.
