Luiza Matravolgyi Damião, brazil
filmmaker

contact: luizamatrav@gmail.com

She is a Brazilian filmmaker based in São Paulo. She directed the short documentary Weaving Freedom (2020), about artisan women in the Brazilian prison system; and Wanderer Cycle (2023), a short documentary about a bike trip through the culturally rich indigenous and quilombola communities resisting in the valley where far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro grew up. Luiza holds a bachelor’s degree in cinema studies from the University of São Paulo, graduating in 2017. She has worked as a documentary filmmaker in productions inside the Amazon rainforest, in Haiti, in prison units in Brazil, and in Colombia. Recently, she has been working with indigenous communities of the Vale do Ribeira region. She has collaborated with NGOs and educational institutes and served as an assistant director in advertisement films. In 2021, she was granted a prize by the Government of São Paulo to film Wanderer’s Cycle.

FILMOGRAPHY:

  • Wanderer’s Cycle / Short Documentary / 2023 / as a director
  • Weaving Freedom / Short Documentary / 2020 / as a director
  • Burger King Drive / Advertisement / 2023 / as second assistant director
  • Guaraná Antarctica / Advertisement / 2023 / as second assistant director
  • Inmates Co-op / Short Doc / 2018 / as a filmmaker
  • Fôlego / Film / 2018 / as a production sound mixer
  • Scholas – Haiti / Short Documentary / 2016 / as a sound director and as an editor
  • Empty Girl / Short Film / 2016 / as a cinematographer and sound editor
  • White Mountain / Film / 2015 / as a boom operator at the brazilian unit
  • Diva / 2015 / as a gaffer assistant

FESTIVAL & AWARDS:

  • Weaving Freedom / Folha de São Paulo / São Paulo, Brazil / Premiered by the newspaper Folha de São Paulo online.
  • Weaving Freedom / Gato Preto Video Contest / São Paulo, Brazil / 2020 / Best film of Vale do Paraíba region
  • Weaving Freedom (short version) / United Nations Video Contest / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / 2017 / Awarded
  • Folêgo / Mostra do Filme Livre / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / 2018 / Honorable mention of best film