Carolina Markowicz is a Brazilian film director and screenwriter. She has written and directed two feature films and six short films, which have screened at over 400 film festivals, including

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

Locarno Locarno (; ; Ticinese dialect, Ticinese: ; formerly in ) is a southern Switzerland, Swiss List of towns in Switzerland, town and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district Locarno (district), Locarno (of which it is the capita ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

, and

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

, and have received more than 100 awards.

Career

Based in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, she directed a number of short films in her early career, most notably winning the Queer Palm at the

2018 Cannes Film Festival The 71st annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 8 to 19 May 2018. Australian actress Cate Blanchett served as jury president for the main competition. Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, fo ...

for '' The Orphan (O Órfão)''. The film premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and was also selected for the

2018 Toronto International Film Festival The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to ...

. It was the first Brazilian film to receive the Queer Palm. Her 2014 short ''Tatuapé Mahal Tower'' premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

, where she was named one of "five filmmakers to watch" by programmer Shane Smith. After its online release, the film was selected among the

Vimeo Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...

Staff Picks’ Best of the Year in 2017. She has participated in several international development labs, including

TIFF Tag Image File Format or Tagged Image File Format, commonly known by the abbreviations TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is w ...

Talent Lab,

Berlinale Talents Berlinale Talents, formerly Berlinale Talent Campus, is the talent development programme of the Berlin International Film Festival (also called Berlinale). An annual summit and networking platform for 200 outstanding creatives from the fields of ...

, and the

Filmmakers Academy. Indiewire highlighted the latter program as showcasing "some of the world's most exciting new filmmakers." In 2019, as part of the SEE Factory initiative, Markowicz co-wrote and co-directed the short film ''Spit'', which premiered during the opening of that year’s Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. She was subsequently a co-creator of the television series '' Nobody's Looking (Ninguém Tá Olhando),'' which won the International Emmy Award for Best Comedy in 2020.

Feature films

Her debut feature film ''

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(Carvão)'' premiered in 2022 in the

Platform Prize The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision."2022 Toronto International Film Festival The 47th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 8 to 18, 2022. The 2022 festival was staged primarily in-person; a small selection of films were offered on the Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox platform, but this represente ...

, and had its European premiere at the

71st San Sebastián International Film Festival The 71st San Sebastián International Film Festival ran 22–30 September 2023 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The awards were announced on 30 September 2023, with '' The Rye Horn'' winning the Golden Shell, being the first film directed by ...

. The film has since won more than ten awards internationally. Her second film, ''

Toll Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Toll road, a type of road which for which payment is required for passage ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road to ...

(Pedágio)'', was screened in the Centrepiece program at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, where Markowicz was named as the recipient of the Emerging Talent Award at the

TIFF Tribute Awards The TIFF Tribute Awards are an annual award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to honour distinguished achievements in filmmaking. Unlike the festival's regular awards, which are presented based on audience or jury voting during ...

. The film has been selected to over 80 international festivals and has received 28 awards to date, including Best Film at the Rome International Film Festival under a jury chaired by

Gael García Bernal Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and filmmaker. He is known for his performances in the films ''Amores perros'' (2000), ''Y tu mamá también'' (2001), ''Bad Education (2004 film), Bad Education'' (2004), ''The Mot ...

, as well as awards at the

Leeds International Film Festival The Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) is an annual film festival hosted in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest film festival in England outside of London. Founded in 1987, it is held in November in various venues throughou ...

and the Oostende Film Festival.

Recognition

In 2021, Markowicz was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). In February 2025, Mubi Brazil launched a retrospective of her work, showcasing both short and feature-length films curated in collaboration with the director.

Filmography

*''69 Luz Square (69 Praça de Luz)'' — 2007 *''Tatuapé Mahal Tower (Edifício Tatuapé Mahal)'' — 2014 *''Postponed (Postegrados)'' — 2016 *''Long Distance Relationship'' — 2017 *''Spit'' — 2019 *'' The Orphan (O Órfão)'' — 2018 *'' Nobody's Looking (Ninguém Tá Olhando)'' — 2019 *''

(Carvão)'' — 2022 *''

(Pedágio)'' — 2023

References

External links

* Brazilian film directors Brazilian women film directors Brazilian screenwriters Brazilian women screenwriters Writers from São Paulo Living people Year of birth missing (living people) International Emmy Award–winning screenwriters {{Brazil-film-director-stub