Pellegrini (born in 1965) worked on television as a director and writer from 1992 to 1997. He wrote and directed his first feature film E allora Mambo! (Let's Mambo!) in 1998. This film was the most popular Italian film that year and was presented at many international film festivals. In 2000, he finished his film Tandem. In 2003, he wrote and directed the film Ora o mai piu (Now or Never) that was shown in the competition program in Locarno and at the London Film Festival. In 2004, together with Gianni Zanasi he made La vita e breve ma la giornata e lunghissima, a fictional documentary that was shown as part of the digital program competition program in Venice. It was well accepted by the critics and it won the Pasinetti award in 2004.