Luiza Calagian is a director and cinematographer from São Paulo, Brazil. She graduated from the Regular Course in Cinematography at the International School of Film and Television (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, where she also took the Masters in Creative Documentary. Studied Social Sciences at the University of São Paulo, focusing on visual anthropology and ethnology.

 

Her work as a director and cinematographer has been awarded at festivals such as Oberhausen, Ann Arbor, Kinoforum, and Concordia, and has been screened at festivals like Rotterdam, Visions du Reel, Guadalajara, Hong Kong, and Biarritz, among others. Her first feature film as a screenwriter, director, and cinematographer, Arrow for a Stone Heart, is currently in post production stage and was made in collaboration with the Guarani Mbya communities of São Paulo, with whom she has worked for over ten years. The project has been awarded development and production grants from SPCINE and production completion funding from PROAC.

 

Luiza is also the co-founder of the independent São Paulo-based production company Mata Fechada Filmes. She believes in the craft of cinema as spell, capable of transforming reality and building bridges between humans, nature, and spirituality, enchanting the world.