Photo by Dolores Orange

Mariana Machado is a Brazilian filmmaker and photographer based in Brussels. Her work moves through the audiovisual field primarily as a director, also working as a screenwriter and editor. Since 2017, she has been working as an independent director, creating short films, music videos, audiovisual campaigns, and video art. She holds a master’s degree in Film Directing from LUCA School of Arts (Brussels) and a bachelor's degree in Social Communication with an emphasis on Cinema from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte). Currently, she is the resident photographer at Beursschouwburg, one of Belgium's leading cultural centers, and she is finishing the documentary Maxita: The Earth Eaters, filmed in the Amazon alongside two important Indigenous leaders and philosophers. Soon, she will release the short film Everything You Want, her first fiction short film, selected as one of five projects in Europe for the Next Generation, Please! program, supported by the renowned Belgian cultural center Bozar.

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Her films have been screened and awarded at various national and international festivals. Her film essay Ângelo (2020) won second place for the Best Film by the Audience Award at the 9th Ecofalante Film Festival. In 2020, she was awarded the Itaú Cultural Visual Artist Prize for her film I'll Take Just What’s Needed. Some of her works have also been presented in group exhibitions, such as 24 Frames per Second (at Fondation 312, in Brussels) and Maps of Absence. Additionally, they have been featured in performative installations, such as Sodom, by the Belgian performer Arno Verbruggen. Beyond her academic background in cinema, Mariana also has a degree in Theater from the Galpão Cine Horto School (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), participated in artistic residencies such as Buitenkunst (Netherlands) and American Arts Incubator (United States Embassy in Brazil), and has experience as a film critic, having been part of the critical jury at the 20th Tiradentes Film Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals in Brazil.