Francesco Pasinetti (1911–1949) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known largely for his documentaries. He also directed the 1934 realist feature film The Canal of the Angels set in Venice.^[1] His brother was the writer Pier Maria Pasinetti.

A native of Venice, Pasinetti attempted in the final days of the Second World War to persuade the Allies to support making Venice the capital of the post-war Italian film industry (Venice had emerged as the centre of filmmaking in the Fascist Italian Social Republic). However, this attempt failed and production largely returned to the capital in Rome.^[2]