Maria Joana Figueiredo is a Lisbon-based director, film editor and videographer. She studied filmmaking in Munich, where she made her first short film, “Ah, Não Ser Eu Toda a Gente e Toda a Parte” (2000), which received an award at the Encontros de Cinema Documental — Amascultura.
She holds a degree in Film Directing from Lisbon Theatre and Film School (ESTC) and trained in film editing at the same institution. Her studies also include a screenwriting course organised by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in partnership with the London Film School.
In 2001, she worked alongside renowned editor Andrée Davanture on Teresa Villaverde’s “Water and Salt”, a feature film cut entirely on a Moviola. Her work has since focused primarily on editing, with credits including Miguel G. Mendes’s “Autografia”, winner of the Best Documentary Award at Doclisboa in 2004.
Her practice spans the shift from analogue to digital filmmaking and also extends to music and performance. She was the lead singer of “El Sur” and currently performs with “Sacatualma”.
