Works
Filmography
01
Maria Luiza
Directed by Marcelo Díaz
Where to watch
Maria Luiza da Silva is the first official case of a transgender person in the Brazilian Armed Forces (FAB). After 22 years of military service in aircraft mechanics, she was retired as disabled because of her transsexuality. The film investigates the motivations for preventing her from wearing the women’s uniform and her path of affirmation as a trans woman.
Visit: www.marialuizafilme.com.br
Motivation
A story of overcoming, prejudice and serious rights violations. A woman outside the “norm”, for being transgender, military and Catholic. The film documents the drama lived by Maria Luiza, recognized as the first trans person in the ranks of the Brazilian Armed Forces (FAB). A corporal in the FAB for 22 years, she was prevented from continuing her military career as an aircraft mechanic and was retired for disability after coming out as a trans woman.
The work addresses the conflicts, disillusionments and achievements of the protagonist in her process of affirming her identity. It reveals her fight to remain in the Air Force as a trans woman, going behind the scenes of military, Catholic and family life.
After 20 years of struggle, Maria Luiza won in court the right to retire as a warrant officer, in a decision by Minister Herman Benjamin of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), which recognized the discrimination she suffered. The debate generated by the film, with national and international screenings, directly contributed to the visibility of the case, and was even mentioned in the STJ decision. Recently Maria Luiza da Silva received her military ID with her new rank of warrant officer.
Highlights
BEST INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY / Humano Human Rights Film Fest (Mexico) · HONORABLE MENTION FEATURE DOC / Latino & Iberian Film Festival at Yale (LIFFY – USA) · BEST DOCUMENTARY / International Queer Film Festival MERLINKA (Serbia).
Selected at more than 25 festivals, including: É Tudo Verdade (SP/RJ), FIDBA (Buenos Aires), TranScreen (Amsterdam), Colombia International Human Rights Film Festival, Chéries-Chéris (Paris), Brasília Brazilian Film Festival, San Diego Latino FF, Seattle Latino FF, DOC Amazônia, Geneva International Queer FF (Switzerland), Primeiro Plano FF (opening film), Atlantidoc (Uruguay), MICMX (Mexico), SESC Best Films Festival 2020, Censurados FF (Peru), Transitions International Queer FF (Austria), OUTFEST Peru, Imprópria (Azores), FICPRISMA (Colombia), OUTFEST Santo Domingo and Peloponnisos International Doc FF (Greece).
Selected for DOK MARKET (DOK LEIPZIG), DOCMontevideo Meetings 2018, DOC SP 2018, LAB DOC IMPACTO 2018 (DOC SP/DOC Society). Brazilian social-impact documentary case at GOOD PITCH BRASIL 2020 (DOC Society). Impact Case Study GOOD PITCH BRASIL 2021. Available on several streaming platforms.
02
Terra de Luz
Directed by Delvair Montagner, Marcelo Díaz / Prodav 10, Public TV
Where to watch
A poetic and thought-provoking look at the Vale do Amanhecer, a gathering place of religions and mysticisms typical of the cultural melting pot of Brasília, the capital of hope. The film features the experiences of followers who migrated from different regions and countries in search of a new life.
Motivation
A partnership between anthropologist Delvair Montagner and filmmaker Marcelo Díaz, based on stories about religiosity and migration. In the Vale do Amanhecer we sought people who came to the Federal District region in search of a new life. Our motivation was to show a different Vale, beyond the exoticism through which it is usually seen, and relate it to the mystical dimension of the city’s utopia, of hope and spirituality.
Terra de Luz refers to the Vale itself and to the city of Brasília itself. There is the experience of a city that seeks to meet its utopian capital, but from a reality full of contradictions.
Project funded by Prodav 10/2014-FSA-ANCINE. TVs: TV Cultura, TV Brasil. Available at: guidedoc.tv
03
Galeno, Curumim Arteiro
Directed by Marcelo Díaz
Where to watch
Between the simple and the complex, between the erudite and the popular. Galeno’s art is revealed on a journey through the Parnaíba Delta (Piauí), Brasília and Brazlândia, wellsprings of inspiration for his creations.
Motivation
Galeno is an artist from Piauí, without formal training or academicism. Of humble origins, he developed his art under the sky of Brasília and Brazlândia/DF, between modernism and wooden shacks, drawing inspiration from the landscapes of the Parnaíba Delta of his childhood. His kites, spools, bobbins, fishhooks and oil lamps refer to a simple Brazil of popular festivals and striking colors.
He paints on wood, but not by choice. When he was young, he couldn’t afford canvases. So his father, a carpenter, decided to build wooden canvases to fulfill his son’s dream of painting. From that improvisation, Galeno established his trademark. He turned wooden boards into art. And changed his life.
Highlights
One of the winners of DOCTV IV, a national competition for the production of TV documentaries (MinC/TV Brasil/Abepec/ABD/ABCV/TV Cultura), broadcast across the country’s entire public TV network. TVs: TV Brasil, TV Cultura, Brazilian educational TV channels, TV Câmara, TV Justiça. Available on the platform GUIDE DOC.
04
Restrutural
Directed by Marcelo Díaz / Co-production: Machado Filmes
Dyarley, a former waste picker at the largest landfill in Latin America, in Cidade Estrutural (DF), works as an educator of children and teenagers at risk. Her life inspires transformation.
Motivation
A deeply transformative story told through Dyarley and Rita. Two Black women from Estrutural, on the outskirts of Brasília. Both lived very powerful stories of coexisting with violence and had to overcome themselves somehow to keep going.
Dyarley was a waste picker and managed to graduate in pedagogy with the money she earned from the landfill. After graduating, she worked with children and teenagers at risk in Estrutural itself, near the landfill.
Once again we tried to talk about how to recycle a dream, taking advantage of the association with waste recycling, and at the same time how they encouraged children and teenagers with similar stories in the region itself.
Highlights
Winning film of the A HORA É AGORA competition by TV Câmara (2014) for the Center-West. Festivals: Visões Periféricas (Rio/2015) and Cine Favela (Rocinha Favela/Rio/2015). Available on youtube.com.
05
Oficina Perdiz
Directed by Marcelo Díaz
Where to watch
SCRN 708/9. Between Blocks C and D. Public area. Brasília DF. Perdiz and the Workshop. Between mechanical and theatrical parts.
Motivation
A documentary that reveals the duality of a space, part auto repair shop and part theater. José Perdiz is the protagonist of this story, a rough mechanic who opened his workshop and himself to art.
The film had a positive impact. The workshop occupied an irregular area, planned to be a pedestrian passage. It had been there for decades, even holding an operating license. The making of the documentary stirred the cultural scene and the political environment at the time. Many people took part in the film, giving interviews or telling their experiences with Perdiz and his workshop, including IPHAN. All of this produced strong arguments in defense of the Workshop/Theater, including mobilization of the media and of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the DF, which helped the Workshop remain, albeit in another location.
Perdiz meant resistance. We connected with that resistance and with the cause.
Awards and festivals
Best 35mm Short from the DF at the 39th Brasília Festival (Legislative Chamber Award) · CTAV/MinC Award at the São Paulo International Short Film Festival 2007 · Best Screenplay in a Short – Canoa 2007 · ABDeC Award at the International Ethnographic Film Festival 2007/RJ · Best Documentary at the São Carlos/SP Video Festival 2007.
Also selected for: Curta Cinema 2006, 11th Brazilian FF of Miami, 13th Milano Film Festival, 29th Havana Festival (Cuba), 35th Gramado Festival, Brasil Plural 10 (Germany/Austria/Switzerland), Antofagasta Festival (Chile), Brazilian FF of Canada (Toronto), 3rd Sydney Latin American FF, 7th Festival Signes de Nuit (Paris), Amazonas FF, 10th Tiradentes Showcase, 17th Cine Ceará, FAM (Florianópolis), 7th Goiânia Short Film Showcase, VI Araribóia Cine, 14th Vitória Cine Vídeo, FestCine Amazônia, Curta Cabo Frio, IV Panorama Recife of Documentaries, Brésil en Mouvements (Paris) and 3rd South American Human Rights Festival (10 Brazilian cities).
Featured by the newspaper Correio Braziliense (04/04/2010) among the 50 films that most marked the city. TVs: Canal Brasil, TV Cultura, STV. Part of the collection of Programadora Brasil (Brazilian Cinematheque/SAV-MinC), the Curta Brasília Vol. 2 anthology and the Porta Curtas portal.
06
Aquilo Que Não Podem Demolir Enquanto Eu Puder Falar
Directed by Marcelo Díaz
Walls steeped in 26 years of theater in Brazil’s capital. The real-estate dispute that turns the city into a product. A theater is destroyed, the memories are not. A compositional game between cinema and theater to bring out the city, its metamorphoses and affections.
Motivation
A stage-film made through the meeting of cinema and theater. A partnership between Diazul de Cinema and the Companhia Teatro de Concreto. The production was a form of resistance to the difficulties brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. We looked for a way back through the invitation of the Cena Contemporânea Festival, which that year would have an online edition. A work that revisits the rubble of the Oficina Perdiz, a victim of a long real-estate dispute. The connection with these memories brings up questions of identity, affection, art pushed to the margins and its resistance, not only in the case of Teatro Oficina Perdiz, but also in the context of the pandemic.
Highlights: Festival Cena Contemporânea 2020
07
De Esperança e Espera
Directed by Marcelo Díaz
Where to watch
Reflections and expectations about the year 2003 and the meaning of the word “hope”, recorded during the inauguration of President Lula and the celebrations of the turn from 2002 to 2003.
Motivation
A film that records President Lula’s first inauguration as a reflection on the meanings of the word hope, relating it to the expectation of a new country. The word hope was widely used in the presidential campaign. There was a correlation between this word and the realization of the dreams of a people who were waiting for a truly transformed country.
Award: Best video – ABCV Award 2004. Mostra do Filme Livre 2004, Mostra O Novo Cinema Brasiliense (CCBB-Brasília), 6th Taguatinga Showcase, Sesc Rio Preto and Sesc Araçatuba (SP). Part of the collection of TAL (Televisión América Latina). Available at youtube.com/diazuldecinema.
08
Desdobráveis
Directed by Marcelo Díaz / Co-production: IPAM
Where to watch
A day in the life of four women who unfold themselves through art. A free adaptation of the show Desdobrar by Cia Nós No Bambu, unique in acrobatic dance on handcrafted bamboo sculptures.
Motivation
We produced a work that flirts with transmedia art. A blend of cinematic language, dance and the acrobatics of Companhia Nós No Bambu. The story brings everyday experiences of four women seeking transformation, overcoming and elevation through art. Women who unfold and rise in the art of acrobatic dance with bamboo. It is a fiction short with a foot in documentary.
Highlights
Selected for more than 20 festivals and showcases in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Spain, the USA, Sweden, Mexico and Colombia, including Mostra Brasília/46th Brasília Festival, Mecal Chile 2013, FLAFF 2014 (Philadelphia), BrasilCine (Sweden), Contra El Silencio Todas las Voces (Mexico), 6th Festival Cortos Rodinia (Spain), Salón Internacional de la Luz (Colombia), XIV Festival Internacional VideoDanza (Buenos Aires) and others.
Awards: Best Screenplay at the 10th CineMube (São Paulo) and Best Editing at the National Film and Video Meeting of the Sertões/Piauí – 2014. TV: Canal Brasil.
09
O Vento Vai Reagir
Directed by Delvair Montagner and Marcelo Díaz
Where to watch
Varῖ Mëma, an Indigenous woman and anthropologist, lives in conflict. She is no longer seen as Marubo by her relatives. In the academic world she is seen as an “outsider”. Where will her place be? Delvair, an anthropologist who followed her birth in the 1970s, seeks to reconnect with her and with the memories of an Amazon that no longer exists.
Highlights
Ranked first nationally in the MinC Cinema Commercialization Call, No. 6 of 2025. Project funded by the Multicultural Call II – FAC (Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy of the DF – 2021). Mercado SAPCINE 2024 (FICCALI Colombia) — 5 awards. Conecta Chile 2025. Selected for Pitching DOC (MAX – Audiovisual Market of MG).